THE BUDGET—1915

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2552, 28 August 1915, Page 7

THE BUDGET—I9IS

DISCUSSED IN THE CITY NEW TAXATION PROPOSALS SOME INTERESTING OPINIONS ' The views of various well-known .coin- ■ mercial men were sought yesterday on the Budget-of 1915, and the result ,is ■ ' . given below. '. Mr; J. . Macintosh, President of the Wellington Chambor of Commerce, thinks that the Budget, on tlio ;whole, . augurs well for the. National Cabinet, v . iWhen asked to express liis views on - the now taxation proposals,-'' Mr- Macin- -. iosli said that, ho had not had time to .thoroughly study tho changes, bub he did not think much fault could ;be found with them. There appeared to bo some tow anomalies in the Budget, . x but! these might bo more' apparent than , Teal—ono point .was the increased land tax And the application of the income tax to incomes derived from the . land. Invhittijig. at tho. man on the land, in . that-way be hoped that some considera- : tion would be given tothe men who had already largely contributed;• to th£ war- and patriotio; funds,\ont of- the ■; increased'returns they h?d got.for. their A-difference should bo made between such mon, ■ and Who had sheltered themselves up to the present. The latter should bo got i at. ' H© did not:for a moment think that, the men who had been generous and given much ,would ask. for .anything of the Jririd, but ho thought it would be the right . and proper thing that what had already been given • should be taken into ac'.'c count, r,These criticisms did not take .. away from what he had said in the main j he thought 'that it was a go'od Budget; and' augured well' for the Tla- ■ ■ tional Cabinet. : ' . j...-. Mr. Macintosh was strongly of the .' opinion tint the increases in , the Post and > Telegraph rates were good, and ; said so.as a. business man. 'At the .siajne tifbo'tliey / bight encourage"" thrift , in that line, and fewer letters might bp written. BUDGET'S NEW PRINCIPLES. , , • "On the whole,", said Mr. 0. M. Luke, chairman of the Wellington ' Central Chamber of Commerce, "I think tho Budget-is a-satisfactory ono. ■ I-notice that- it contains two new principles affecting taxation in this country: Ono is the imposition of an income tax on the farming community, which I think the conditions created by the war fully warrant;-. That brings • the farming community into line: with the commeroialv.and manufacturing communities, who have , had to pay .land tax on the v land occupied for .carrying on their business together njith taxation imposed l by;local bodies, aid, of course, have always ..'had; to pay_ incomo tax. The - farmeri now comes into lino under tho i same principle by paying ari income tax - as well ,as a tax on the .capital value; of, the land engaged in parrying on his . . pursuits. This, ; I presume, will be a' matter of some contention .with-! the farming community, but I' believe, it to v be. quite equitable. .' ~r.- '. .\ ''The other new involved is the •• flotation "of. loans upon , the local ...r -markets, Whilst it is true that Gov- , einment- debentures have been' offered v .to.,' the. public locally, yet' nothing approximating the .raising; of a loan -locally has ever been attempted. This is. ■ . quite justifiable under the present eon,l. el it ions,. but X should hesitated to pledge • to this course under normal con- :, dit-ions, the danger being to unduly de^ plete the local market of tho finance necessary, for .tho, carrying'out . 6f r local, ; enterprises* and.. developing : the; natural resources of tho country. Money in this regard-becomes the _ life/ bloodof. the trading and commercial community- But ■under, present conditions it seems quite reasonable,, seeing tho necessity for money for. public works and that the market usually open ,to us is closed; : This is a time to help ourselves. Guarding tho Small Investor. "I think .the principle of offering small investors the chance to invest sums • from "£5 upwards an admirable one, " though I expect it.will somewhat affect ■the deposits in the' Post. Office Savings . Bank. ,A-s to'whether those debentures will. be ; subject to speculation 'on tho local'-market and possible;; fluctuations , in valuo thereby affecting the investor . ... adversely, is a matter, that only timo will tell. Drawing an analogy on, tho position of: Consols in England; and the • market fluctuations that occur covering • 'them from time to time, it would bo a. serious -matter to. the small; investor if they dropped much in value. -'; .\"As-t-q the smaller-items detailed in ■the;Budget,_l think the imposition of the Jd. on mail matter quite, warranted. As to the increase of; 100 per cent; on postage of receipts for payments, I would,.have preferred to have seen the impost a graduated one. That is to say, a penny is -d fair amount for stampago- on a receipt for amounts - up to' £10, bu.t above that it should be on nn inoreased scale, up to, say, sixpence for a receipt for- £100. I quite agree with tho. impost of 10 per cent, on motor-cars, and" associated with that I am pleased to see that ; the duty oh bicycles: which come within the reach of the mass of tho country is being reduced from 20 per cent, to 10' per cent-., miking it equal to tho duty on ■ motor-cars. - . . 1 Kerosene Again. "As to the impositions made through tho Customs Department, I am sorry to see our old friend kerosene oil brought into play.- This may affect certain sections of. the community • in. the' farming districts who depend on oil as an.ilfuminant, but may after all not'concern tho consumer seeing that when, the: duty was taken off the oil companies did hot reduce the prico at all, or, if any, to a very small: extent.. I approve' of .the imposition of a tax on sub-sales of ' property. Whilst tho amount, is not .large it deals w'ith a principal, and .may check'to'somo extent exchanges' ofpro- ' perty, and, in any J case, it only affects' the speculator! I am pleased to'read of. the taxation! of-50 per cent, on goods from. 6nemy -.countries. ■' -This brings ; taxation into lino' with the temper of the people generally, provides that which nearly all Chambers of Com- , niorce,' - Industrial Associations, and local bodies have been demanding, and it should be a matter ■- of - principle to • see to it thait wo do not alter this tax for a long period and so; provide, the sinews, of war with our money for the enom.v to equip themselves for another figlit."- •'•; ■ . THE NEW TOTALISATOR TAX. Discussing'' the proposed new totalisator.tax yesterday, a prominent racing man in the City-gave it as his opinion that it was a very fair arrangement, and 'one that would be satisfactory to ail sides. Tho new tax will mean that , a further 2J per cent.. will be taken off the money left for distribution after the original 10 per cent, is deducted. Of this 10 per cent, the Government at present gets' 2} and the club 7s. From a .racing point of view the idea, is popular, for it was feared' that tho Government might ask 5 per cent, of the siiin mentioned above, which would mean a serious business, for-the clubs and also owners, as it: would lead to a cutting down. or stakes. : Considering , . it is a war t.ax the opinion is that everybody should' be well satisfied/ Drawers ' of dividends are not likely to grumblo ■ as when a person is fortunate enough to back a winner he br sho cares little whether the dividend is '£3'or £2 18s. 6d.

ALL QUIET AT THE CUSTOMHOUSE. Thore have been no abnormal clearances made of stocks in bond in anticipation of tho new tariff within .the last week. As a matter of fact all the spirits and a good deal of the wine held m bond was cleared some three weeks ago, when the clearances were abnormal | throughout tho Dominion. The merchants had anticipated a much heavier war duty, and had cleaned the bonds out of stocks. Now that only Is. per gallon has been put upon, spirits, tho chances are that some chagrin is felt in certain quarters over tho big cheques that have been paid out to release bonded stocks. One effeot of tho revised tariff will be the re-erection of bonds for com- > bustiblo,oils, which now carry a diity of -id, per gallon; GOSSIP.IN THE LOBBIES : '' WHAT MEMBERS THINK. ; > tu Naturally. the Budget proposals were > ' of considerable gossip in , " le lobbies yesterday.. ,TJie proposals oil the whole appear to liavo given a | considerable measure of satisfaction so j rar. as-the principal .sources' of in- ( oreased revenue are concerned.,-. Not a. little criticism, , however, is being \ indulged in respecting two or three . of the propsed Customs and excise charges. . : , , The countrv members -find consider- , able fault wjt-h tho intention to im- . Po.se a duty of 4d. per gallon on motor , spirits and kerosene The proposed tax [ on motor spirits, they say, .will press severely, not only on the-owner's of [ motor-cars, ■ at. whom it may be presumed' to bo chiefly aimed, but also on 13T11161S who use petrol largely fpr t3i© working of milking machines.. "With .' ™ 0; Present' scarcity' of labour;'" said tne.membor, "milking mathines are coming more and more into use, and» tho tax on petrol will bo a substantial extra burden. Another, country. niemOer expressed concern oh account' of ,tiie. large number of, fishermen and Others-who depend for their , livelihood jo .a large extent on'the use of motor launches. Some of these men. he sa.ys.llse a,case of- petrol per day. and Jwi i' ey wi1151170 Pay, he hßt!f' reS ' amount to no less than between £40, and £50 a year., - eroSßne likewise' crij.J'y representatives who of r r s " a J, BX ,?P on tho -liKlit ot the . country settler." This' item appears - to. be more ift disfavour even i>.ian the impost on petrol. -It seems soSL tn ,f embers lvill have = jo^etnuig. to. . say about "oil" during tho coming; Budget'discussions. n tion nn p h oposal ®. itt '- r ? gard 'to the taxa6pmts - ,lave als ° given of nSd il 0 m ? mbers ha ™ inaicated.; their intention, of criticising ft ° f tllo .B«dget. Ifcl urgof mcm , se m the x duty on bier now] 9 S feater f'aii that p'ro- ' fend fvf Pe9 ' ? a, J tll3 oritios con- ' very' win t ilcrcas f char ge could not caSs fnr-wc pas i se ° n . to , t:ll ' o man who counter bS glaBS Of ; ale ™ - ■ Mother criticism is levelled against ■ the, proposed method of levying X- ' ? n - be f-' It is argued.that' if is too much m, favour of the lighter brewed in Auckland, ?s against heavier beers, such as' those . manufactured in Dunpdin. The increase of_ only, one. shilling in the duty on : spirits is.another subject of complaint, and some members urge that instead of an uicrease froml6s. ,to 175., the duty should have been advanced to, say, 20s per. gallon/ -'^ . The proposed tax of a penny per gallon; on, non-alcoholic beverages has not created' a favourable impressioni-. In raot, ;it .has beeii received with. a considerable amount.,of ridicule. .It, is pointed out.. that - the, collection of 'this tax will involve heavy expenses owing to the- large number* of people -/ who .manufacture ; .''soft", drinks.•. "It hiav cost £10,000 to collect the £20,000 which this. tax. is -estimated to produce," said one .member. If the Government really desires to reach'thososwho drink nonalcololio.beverages, why not put a small tax on tea. There is at present a tax of eightpence a pound on tea in Great Britain, and no.duty here. If we had a tea tax v of twopence in the £it would produce :nearly £60,000, or three. times as much as tho proposed tax ion soft drinks.. Moreover, tne collection of a tea tax would not involve one halfpenny of extra expenditure." • Surprise'ts. expressed by, some members that no ta-x is to be levied on.picture theatres and other places of entertainment: \Others urge that , the Government should take the power to appropriate t£e totalisator : "fractions," Jbosides, imposing a, divideud. ta-x. ■ There does! not appear to bo any objection to the Stamp Department increases. ■ The proposed increases in the income tax, 'which will furnish over a quarter of tho. total additional amount required, appear to have been on the whole favourably received. Hie oounrepresentatives appear, 'on an examination of the working of the proposed income tax on incomes derived from land, to this tax more favourably than iliey -did on receiving tho annoiihcement. ' The provision for exemption appears to have considerably softened objections at first voiced. In regard to tho new duties on motors, it may bo'pointed out that previously there has; been an . all round dnty;of twenty per cent, on the bodies fit \ ca'rs, the chassis being admitted ffse. jThe duties embodied in the new Customs resolutions agreed * to on Thursday night, wliioh came into force yesterday,, impose a tax l of ten per cent.: on British motor-cars and twenty per cent, on those imported from foreign countries, the extra ten per cent, being by-way of preferential surtax. An all'round; tax of fifty per cent, on cars made in enemy countries is proposed in the Budget, but . this proposal was not included in' the' resolutions introduced on Thursday, and ia therefore not yet in force. .