OLD AGE PENSIONS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 91, 10 January 1908, Page 7

OLD AGE PENSIONS.

BOW TO MEET THEM. HUGE INCREASE IN INCOME TAX. - " . A. LABOUR VIEW. , BY tBUSOBm—PB£SB ASSOCIATION—COrYBIGIIT. London, January 8: Owing ' to pressure of other duties, Mr. D. J. Shaekleton, Labour member of tho House of Commons for ; Clitheroo Division of North-East Lancashire, declines re-election to the chairmanship of tho Parliamentary Labour Party. ' . -\' A - ; Mr. Shaekleton, addressing his 'constituents, advocated the raising' of seventeenand a half millions yearly -from all thoso whose incomes • aro over £5000 yearly, the revenue- thus obtained to bo devoted to oid ago pensions of ss. weekly. He declared that thoso at the top conkl stand a little bit off without running short-. LABOUR SCHEMES ANALYSED. : COST. OF PENSIONS. • V. , ! Tho cablegram does not state - the age limit and the conditions of the pension of ss.'per week. If it .'is to be an universal .pension, to be paid to all persons'of ; G5 years and upwards, it will—according to a memorandum ofjthe Local Government Board, as summarised in _tho " Express"—require an annual vote of '.£27,508,000. < If the same ss.', pension is paid to all persons of 70 years 'and upwards, it will, on the same authority, consume -,£16,302,000 a year. As Mr. ShacKleton talks .about raising annually ,500,000, he apparently aims : at seventy years' pension; that ho accepts the figures of the memorandum as-published.';! From a notice iu the "Daily' Mail" of a! pamphlet issued by the Independent Labour party, it would appear that tho latter estimates tho cost of a universal pension of 7s. a week to all . persons aged sixty years and upwards at «£35,000,000 per aniium.' . • Tho same paper publishes a review of a pamphlet issued by tho well-known Labour member, Mr. Philip Snowden, who,-like Mr. .Shaekleton, would'increase the tax on incomes above .£SOOO per annum., But while • Mr. Shaekleton proposes to raise in this way, Mr. Snowden, it would suein, proposed to raise .£28,400,000.. Here aro the figures,-as given in the "Daily Mail":— ' Incomo tax, super tax, in addition to the existing taxes: ; Income . . Rate of Tax;.': ..

m ' ".£25,400,000 rax on incomes now evading tax ... ,£1,700,000 Mr. Snowden has. also a scheme of death duties, whicli is given as follows :t- ■' Present . Proposed rate . > rato Estates botwcen ■ per. cent.' percent.

And so on till above £1,'000,000 his rate becomes 50 per cent, instead of 8 per cent., as at present. . "In this way," comments tliC'Dnilv Mail," 'another >£17,000,000 is to be extracted from the, 'ricli.' Observe that-the inheritor of £10,000 would have to nay in,insurance against death duties an annual tax of some 2r. in the pound of his or her income over and above the Is. of income tax loss existing abatements. This is an enormous amount to levy upon a person who may be a widow with a family of orphans, and with an income, of only £350 or £300 on which to support that family."

Between ■ in i. . Kcvenue. and i'6000 .... ls.'Od. '...<•^1,900,000 6000 and 10,000 ... 2s. 0<1. ' 4,000,000 10,000 and 20,000 ... 33. Od. ... G,750,000 20,000 and 40,000 ... 4s. (id. ; 6,750,000 Over X'AO,000 ... 6s. 0d.' ... v 9,000,000

.£100 and ..£500 1 1 . 500 aud 1000 2 2 1000 and 10,000 3 > 3 10,000 and 25,000' i 8 25,000 and 50,000 4}