FEDERAL BUDGET

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 253, 9 July 1926, Page 9

FEDERAL BUDGET

SURPLUS OF £286,944 TWO AND HALF MILLIONS IN TRUST FUND SLIGHT REDUCTION IN NATIONAL DEBT By Tblmkai-h.—Press Assooia-tiok. COPTHIGHT. (Rec. July 9, 1.5 a.m.) Melbourne, July 8, In the House of Representatives, the Treasurer (Ur. E. Page) delivered the Budget. He said that the revenue for 1925-26 amounted to £58,996,261, and the expenditure to £61,818,846, but with a surplus of £3,109,529 carried forward from the previous year there was left a surplus for 1925-26 of £286,944. In addition, the Government had in hand £2,500,000 in the trust fund, including £1,000,000 for naval construction not provided for in the 1925-26 Budget, so that they ended the year with £2,786,000 in hand. The chief increases in revenue during the vear were: Customs and Excise £1,998,883 and direct taxation £1,64,124, the total increase being £3,422,001. The estimated revenue for 1926-27 waf £51,382,000, and the estimated surpluf £149,381. The gross national debt at the end of June was £458,443,637, comprising war debt £304,546,643; debts earned for States, £83,408,859; other debt, £7O 488,135. After making deductions for loans to States and other purposes the net debt was £338,841,476, compared with the net debt of £339,002,105 _in June, 1922. As ths population during this period had increased by £481,856, the net debt of the Commonwealth was now £4 14s. 10d. per head less than in 1922. The -Toss debt of Australia per head of the population was £166. The total Commonwealth and State debts amounted to £899,892,535,-Press Assn.