EXCESSIVE TAXATION

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 234, 29 June 1922, Page 8

EXCESSIVE TAXATION

CAUSE OF ALL OUR TROUBLES A QUESTION THAT AFFECTS ' EVERYONE Th® Welfare League write® i—"The enormous inflation of credit and currency during the war gave a false feeling of prosperity, and noth individuals and Government spent money ' freely. Economy was never considered, and no ono appeared to ‘take thought for the morrow.' Far-seeing men preached caution in vain, and now the day of reckoning has come and shown, beyond question, that the only way to get back to normal is for every one, including Government, to economise and reorganise their businesses to meet the after-war conditions. Those concerns which have been unable to neoiuanise have had to go under, and. those that have ‘put their house in. order' are struggling against grave difficulties, with resources strained to breaking point. Why is this? What is the greatest handicap to their recovery? Tho answer here and in England is excessive taxation.

“Let us ask one or two questions as the shortest way to arrive at the true position:— “What necessitate® such heavy taxation ? The expense of, war which had to be incurred, and th® growth of public service expenditure, which has had nothing to do with the war, but was due to extravagance? i "What are the chief result® of this taxation ? The withdrawal of money from industries which would normally be devoted to industrial expansion. This is followed by unemployment. Another result is that the cost of living is kept at a high level. Why? Because, unquestionably. most taxation is passed on to the consumer or back to the producer. '

"Thus the question of taxation is one which closely affects every man, woman, and child in the community. It does not, as is so often assumed, only affect tho trader and producer. How can we reduce taxation ? By reducing our expenditure, this is the only possible way. Don’t let there bo any mistake on that point. Is it possible to reduce expenditure seeing that we have to pay for the war? Tho Welfare League eays it is possible, because the greatest increase in our expenditure is not due to tho war, but due to the absurd growth of Public Service disbursements, as we now intend to prove. "Before criticising this, we .desire to make it quite clear iv'iat the Welfare League is strictly non-party. To us the Government is merely the 'ruling authority—whether Reform or Liberal makes no difference to us. We place the welfare of, the community before ei-ei’ythi/ig else, land lit is on that ground alone that our criticisms are based. The question of expenditure is too large to deal with in one aritcle; we therefore confine our-glves to local administration As a whole, leaving out all pensions, interest on loqns, etc., and also (please note this) leaving out all Public Works expenditure. Wo find our Public Services cost this country, in 1914-15,. -£7,874,000; in 1918-19, .£9,454,000; in 1921-22, .£15,592,000. From thig it will be seen that in round figures it is costing us twice as much to run this country now than it did. in 1914-15, and over .£6,000,000 more now than in 1918-19. Let any of your readers ask themselves what we are getting, now which we had not in 1914-15 to justify £8,000,000 extra annual expenditure. As a matter of fact we are worse off, for we have a reduced railway service at higher rates and are paying double rates for our postages and telegrams! "The various causes advanced as excuses for this increased cost are identically the same as those which ever} industry in this country has had to face. Private concerns, however, have had to reorganise tlieir businesses or go under, but the policy of our rulers seems to be not to reorganise but to give us a. poorer service and raise the charges. "The Welfare Lvngue has repeatedly stated the opinion that to I ‘cut’ salaries is> not the best way to economise. , We believe it to be a makeshift, often unjust and bound to cause discontent. We have said, and again say, that the only way to effect real economy is to overhaul our great public Departments and reorganise with the assistance of outside expert advice, which would be yiven voluntarily. The Governmental policy, as in the case of the railways, of ap-> pointing boards composed of men in the service who are impregnated with the methods which /are responsible for the present position is, to tne average man, a futile policy. Without sound and expert reorganisation we cannot hope for reduction of expenditure, which alone can justify reduced taxation; without reduction of taxation wo cannot hope to see increased production, which is essential to a lower cost of living and the best remedy for unemployment. The only gleam of sunshine in the present position is that Mr. Massey apparently intends to reduce expenditure, and we trust that he will be firm in this, in the interests of the whole community, and that he will seek outside expert advice to overhaul the Departments."