BUOYANT REVENUE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 960, 29 October 1910, Page 4

BUOYANT REVENUE.

V « — The -enormous increase in the revenue for the seven months of the. current financial year, announced by the 1-rime iiLinistkk yesterday, quite bears out the anticipations of tnose who have been urging that the present 'is no time, for increasing taxation. Sir-Joseph a'vard, as Minister of Finance, naturally felt.the occasion opportune' to express his satisfaction pot only at the financial situation disclosed, but on the revival of trade wliich the .figures indicated. We are not inclined to quarrel with him on either scoro, From the Treasury point of view the figures are very gratifying, and from the point of view of the country also it is highly satisfactory to note- the ; evidences of improvement in the various branches of revenue which may be, regarded as an index to' the trade of the .Dominion, But there is another aspect of the situation which is not bo pleasant. The great bulk of this increased revenue moans increased taxation. This money has come out of the pockets of the taxpayers; some of it for services rendered by the State, such as railway facilities, but the bulk of it in the form of indirect taxation through the Customs, and by direct taxation as shown in the table of receipts published elsewhere. Wo have shown frum time to time how enormously ovor-taxed the people of the Dominion are per hoad, as compared with othor countries; and we have expressed astonishmont that the public should be so quiescent under further increases of . taxation. Only twelve members of the Houso of Representatives voted against tho increased taxation forced on the country on Wednesday last, and yet every member of the House should havo known perfoctly well that tho increases proposed were unnecessary in face of tho buoyant state of the revenue. . In our comments on tho subject we said: "Their [the members who voted against the new taxation] justification will be shown when tho revenue returns for the year arc disclosed and the Prime Minister announces that tho _ Dominion has again broken all its revenuo records." We ask; lnembevs and tho public to say whether that justification is not already convincingly demonstrated by tho figures quoted by tho Prime Minister yesterday 1 But even in the face of those figures, what happened when the Leader of tho Opposition moved in tho House last evening to reriiovo the surtax imposed'last year? Tho whole of the Government following, with tho exception of Mit; T. E. Taylor and Mit. J. P. Luke (both of whom class themselves as Independents), voted to retain it. Tho PiuiiE Minister

declared that the money was required for defence, and indulged in the usual mock heroics concerning the willingness of the country to be taxed for defence purposes. Every member of the House knows that this sort of talk is merely "playing to the gallery" and obscuring the real position. Whatever tax it was proposed to ropeal would evoke the same outburst from the Government. Exactly the same thing was said concerning the new income taxation just passed. The fact of the matter is that the defence expenditure in prospect is already amply covered without either of these taxes —defence is merely being used as a cover under which the simple taxpayer may be most easily bled to obtain funds for othei purposes. The patriotism .of the country is being played oil to enable the Government to continue its extravagances. There is ona item in the accounts presented to Parliament yesterday in connection with which wo can extend to both the Government and the country our sincere congratulations. That is the item showing a small decrease in the Departmental expenditure. As usual with, him, Sir Joseph Ward has kept back the details of expenditure, and we shall know better, when they are given, the cxact extent to which the credit for this saving is due to Ministers. But in the meantime we are very pleased to bo.ablo to note our approval of an apparent saving, however small, > in the enormous burden of Departmental expenditure which the country so passively endures.