THE WAR TAXES

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2551, 27 August 1915, Page 6

THE WAR TAXES

The first impression that one gathers from the Budget taxation proposals is that the maiii purpose the framers . have had in viow is to gather as much new revenue as possible from as few people as possible. It is truo that sonic.of tho new impositions, such as the additional halfpenny on j all articles posted and the extra 2d. lon tclegraips,. will cover all classes of the community, aiicl the increased | railway fares will, affect the, public generally, but in neither' case will these extra imposts be felfc by the great bulk of tho people. On* the other hand those who already pay tho heaviest taxation, that is under tho graduated land tax and the income tax are to.have their burdens very substantially added to. This no doubt will be popular. Whether in' all cases it will prove just remains to be seen. .For instance, the Budget states that "it is proposed to increase the land tax by the addition of sft per cent, to the present'rates of graduated tax oh country lands." That is a very heavy imposition, but it may be jiiST tiiied by the circumstances. A little later on, however, we are told by the Finance Minister that he "proposes that the income tax shall apply to income derived from land." This is quite a new departure, and if we read these two proposals together it will be seen that the landholder is to be taxed to the extent of 50 per cent, additional on the value of. his land, and he is also to be taxed'additionally on the income he 'derives from his land. It may be that this is an oversight on the part of the Minister of Finance, and that it is not proposed to adopt theextraordinary.and penal course of taxing both the value of the land and the income derived from it, but the Budget proposals certainly give the impression that that is what is intended. The point, however, can be cleared up when Sir Joseph Ward goes into .the details of the Government's proposals. The proposed departure in the direction of taxing the farmers' inconie instead of taxing the value of his land may_ not prove so simple : iri working as it seems. It will not be an easy matter to sort out the actual income of the farmer who is improving his land, who is helped as most farmery g-re by the labour of his family, who. may carry heavy mortgages, and so on. It is proposed to allow the farmer to deduct frpm his income' 5 per cent, of«the capital yaluo of liis land, but what if his land is mortgaged and ho is paying more than 5 per cent, on his mortgage? It will probably be found when clue allowance is made for the £300 exemption, the 5 per cent, of the capital value of the land and the other debits mentioned which may be.placed against the gross income which, the farmer has earned, that the new tax heed occasion. the average farmer little anxiety. Exactly what the beer duty means is rather difficult to discover, but it is vpry obvious from the amount of additional revenue anticipated from the change that the brewing interests are to escape very lightly. It is something to know that the brewing of a lighter and less intoxicating form of beer is to be .encouraged, but additional revenue might have been see tired from this source which could have been' borne by the big brewery concerns without any extra charge to the hotel-keeper or to the consumer. The Government might givo consideration to the question of protecting tho hotel-keeper and the consumer against this tax being passed on by the big brewery concerns which already make very handsome profits. Of the various. other smaller, items in the list of new taxes it must be confessed ■ that most of them are petty, and thoijgh they may not be severely felt are likely in some cases to prove irritating. On the whole, the majority of the public are likely to view the proposed new taxes favourably if only for tho reason that tho great bulk of tho people will noli lip dtrcnUy itffeetcd by aijx of tbe onuses wstte.