PRISON FIRST

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 66, 11 December 1930, Page 13

PRISON FIRST

Objection to “Poll Tax” UNEMPLOYMENT LEVY Retired Clergyman’s Vow INEQUITABLE IMPOSITION Dominion Special Service. Auckland, December 10. ' “I am prepared to go to Mount Eden rather than do something that is wrong,” said the Rev. G. Y. Roby, a retired minister of the Presbyterian Church, at a meeting of the Auckland Presbytery. He was speaking in protest against the payment of the unemployment levy, which he contended was purely and simply a poll-tax. Mr. Roby said he had retired many years ago from the ministry and was at present living on superannuation of £2 per week. He was only one of hundreds of pensioners and other aged persons living on a small allowance, and he considered it iniquitous that they should be called upon to pay the same amount as the wealthiest people of the country. “This is not the first time I have protested against the levying of a poll tax,” said Mr. Roby. He went on to say that during the Boer War, when he was a resident of the Transvaal, the Borgstadt, or State Government, had initiated a similar tax and he had led a protest against it. The Act which had been passed was then amended. He was prepared to act on similar lines to-day. He did not blame the departmental officials for the New Zealand legislation, but he did blame the Government for not levying taxation on a~ more equitable basis. A graduated , tax could have been collected through the Income Tax Department at a smaller cost to the State and more efficiently than the present method. He wished to know whether the Presbytery was taking any action in the matter. The Rev. S. E. Hill inquired whether it was the principle of the tax that Mr. Roby was objecting to. Mr. Roby: Yes. The Presbytery did not' discuss the question, but referred it to the Public Questions Committee for report.