Firms ‘being channelled’

Press, 22 October 1983, Page 9

Firms ‘being channelled’

Private enterprise was being channelled into narrow avenues by the tax laws, said the New Zealand Party’s spokesman, Mr Bob Jones, in Christchurch yesterday. Mr Jones said that of the 16 new companies floated on the stock exchange this year, excluding private companies that had gone public, only one was a new orthodox commercial venture. Seven have dearth in

property, five in mining and oil, and two in racehorses, he said. “Salmon farming in the South Island is the only genuine commercial venture,” he said. “Using this as a measuring rod for a healthy economy it can be seen we do not have a healthy economy,” Mr Jones said when opening the new premises of Spectrum Associates, an electronics company in Wal-

tham. “Property companies are floated because they do not have to pay tax, and mining and racing companies can also get large tax deductions,” he said. Mr Jones said that a new company making a $lOO profit was left with only $lB after tax. “Supposedly this is free enterprise — free to set it up but not free to keep the profits. It is tantamount to theft,* said Mr Jones.