LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2443, 23 April 1915, Page 6

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

THE INEVITABLE WAR TAX. Sir, —Mr. Vavasour's letter in a recent (April 13) issue of The Dominion advocating a general income tax as a means of revising the war tax, is one of general public interest; and his scheme would be an excellent one if the war had affected all classes of the community alike. But this, I venture to say, is certainly not the case,, and no comparison 'in this respect can be made between the position of the wageearners and dwellers in towns, and tSat of the people on the land. The former classes, from the commencement of the war have had to pay mors for bread and other necessaries of life, without any corresponding increase in wages or income; while men on tha land, in general, have been receiving greatly enhanced prices for their produce, especially in the matter of woo\ sold after Christmas. This is proved by tlic large increase in tho value of exports. ■ Or,a cannot think that, at a time like the'present, Mr. Vavasour is justified in believing that tho Government is concerned to find the lino of least resistance in imposing the war tax.; it is more reasonable to assume that, the Government will act with impartial discrimination, and will endeavour to. make the tax bear as lightly as possible on those who have, throughout, felt the burden of the war without any compensating advantage.; and as any tax oil the middleman would merely be passed on, the unavoidable conclusion appears to be that the farmer will have to bear.tho greater part recognise that all profits due to the of tho tax. Mr. Beauchamp's proposal seems a' good way of effecting this. In any case, in approaching , this question the Government may justly feel_ assured that there is no more patriotic body than the farmers of New Zealand, and once the farmers clearly recognise that all profits due to the war are the price of tho t blood so freely shed on the other sido of /the "world, and realise that this blood is being shed for them and their children just as much as-for the Belgians and the_ Frenoh, they will feel it not only their duty, but the highest honour, to ■bear the chief burden of the war tax, and so do their share towards bringing the war to such a conclusion, that peace, liberty, and British civilisation may be assured to them and their children for generations to come.—l am, etc.,

r. d: fell, Sheep-farmer, Nikau Bay, Pelorus. Sound.