THE WAR BUDGET

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2553, 30 August 1915, Page 3

THE WAR BUDGET

PUBLIC OPINION

SOME INTERESTING VIEWS ' . £We publish below some further - opiniona on . various aspects of tho . , Budget proposals.] .' Lewis, of Messrs. Thomp.- . jSg3ra, aiKl Co., who cater largely for tlio soft drink trado of Wellington'-, was consulted on Friday in respect or the ' proposed excise duty . of Id. : per . gallon on non-alcoholic . -beverages. / Air. Lewis pointed out - that tho first duty of ~tho authorities. v.Would havo to be to -define what non- . alcoholic beverages ' were. In the cases of lemonade and . soda water the tax,would bo simply on the water which' . thoy aerated. . .Ho iwould.not describe such drinks as lemonade, ginger ale, i and soda water non-alcoholic beverages. ' ®ey.l.were strictly ?speaking aerated The Budget stated that non- : - jalcoholic beverages had to be defined. ~. jiWere they, to' include soda water and lemonade, it, would in ; ~the price of about a penny a dozen for ' .lemonade..'., It' took about fifteen, bottles of lemonade to make a gallon and double . quantity of small soda, so the,- duty was not a. very- serious, matter -'to the.public-in any case. . • •• "The duty on. oil to my mind is.-un- ,. necessarily heavy, 'as it imposes a penalty on small industries suohas dairy farms, ffhicli depend oil it for their motive power. That is not a serious matter, stilj it 13 au, item. ■-'-/.. '/.. "When .assessing the taxation,. too, , tho Government might with advantage have considered 'the position of those generous people who have ' already subBcribed' largely to the patriotic funds, by allowing an exemption' off .the tax-, , able amount, the amoiint'so subscribed.; ■ Still no Budget can please everyone. I . should describe it .'as a: good political Budget-, in that it is one which hits the minority, but it is hardly conceived in' tho spirit of - "Bear ye one another's i burdens." 1 A Commercial Man's Views. | ; Al. leading commercial and: financial i ::.man .expressed the plain unvarnished opinion ;iiat, the. /Budget - was an ihiquitous 1 one, inasmuch .asthe same ..old, v. avoiiues of . taxation were followed, and : : "it was?piliug:the burden more and more.' .' -on the.farming community;:'. '.'lt, seems . to ; me% the height of - absurdity /to - impose - another lialfperiny': ori: letters and: another penny, on receipts and cheques and leave beer alone. All that the , Government appears ■ to- intend to 1 do • is to provide legislation that, will proi duco; a lighter class of , beer. It is ridiculous! Why don't they go deeper into the region of luxuries? And why is . there no provision' aga.iii6t ' people' . , passing on their taxes to the corisumer. ; Tji'e Government,s'et out.to catch;» e'er-" ~ tain class, and that'class at. once,passes; it ! on to the: consumer. ".If I' want to get a quantity of win sky to-day I- can , only do it by buying two gallons, but ■; I 'would have to pay the; extra Is. :•' a gallon duty, though it is known that all the whisky in the: Dominion was /cleared, from bfond before, the Budget was, produced,, and probablv' the stuff I bought lias been in stock'for months.' , * That, is good for the . spirit merchant,but rough on me I .- ' • •. .. "As regards the farmer,' thero is a ■good deal of misconception about his' i position in this oountry. It is a fact that ■ some .farmers;'.have'' made/' money .ibyfne effects of the.war, and it is also - / a.fact that-hundreds, of/them .lave,lost by the war. I'll tell yon how. Both , - in :tho-,North and South Canterbury districts, owing to the limited' shipping facilities arisng out"of tho ; demand, elsewhere : fqr- tonnage, tho freezng 1 com-. ..panies'' stores became, "congested, and some.of: them had to shut down. Consequent .upon this farmers who had •bought 1 , stock to' fatten 'had in many ( instances, let them go back . into store condition.", and in "some cases to sell them for less- than', they , gave for: ..- them after, all their "trouble and expense. - Many of them did -well witli the wool, but what do tlio publio know of : their, position, .which in maiiy instances, the wool prices only eased. -There;are . mortgages/strugglmg to-keep . going, and tlie extra' money realised on last season's.clip onlv just managed: to • 1 -keep them afloat.; Tlie public hear a lot about, the.few: wehlthy :bnt . . fhe man who is straggling on .the land jnakes no noise 'in the land. Now he is .to bear ■ a, mortgage tax in addition to'land and'incorao tax; and when ho - to borrow £5000 will havo, to pay . £25 to tho Government. Surely. - this is a.time. when : the burden should, be born 6 equally. It would have been '/ very easy to have imposed, a small tax ,per head over the whole community, including. tho wage-earners. . They could afford it, and their existence was just as much at 6t.ike as tho -farmers. -Tho'tax could have been - economically col- ■ lected by the employer, . who would • deduct ifc'from the wa f (-es of the men in his employ and pass it'on,-to the Treasury. Another method that would have

been more equitable would have been a stock tax, say a penny a head on all cattle and 6lieep. That wouldn't have boon felt much. Taxation Always Permanent. "The trouble is fcliat any taxation made in. this oountry always becomes pormaneiit.-i Ono, never hears of any relief being .'granted' to speak of.' The fact , of tlio matter is that the fusion which I thought would bo strong enough to catch all classes.has not done so.There's one class they won't touch — tho Working class, whose existence is just as much at-stake through the exigencies of the war as any other; I'm . told of cases where men make as much >■ as £7 and £8 per week who are, never .served with'incomo tax papers, but if T.were to fail, to render my. income for taxation I would be fined. On " the whole the Budget is to me a disappointing one, for , I believe 1 this is ' a time when everybody should do somethingpay something: By piling it all on to the .land they are'killing the goose that lays the goldon egg—the laud and what it produces'is all New Zealand has got to go on, and they're killing it with taxation." • -