The Dominion. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1933. NEW ZEALAND’S “FORGOTTEN MAN”

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 4, 29 September 1933, Page 10

The Dominion. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1933. NEW ZEALAND’S “FORGOTTEN MAN”

AU sorts of problems have been raised, and pleas made, in the debate on the Address-tn-Reply m the House ot Kepre sentatives. A notable omission, however, is the plight of the t n ver He is the most oppressed and depressed individual in the Sv bS wbile tee areals for for other classes, there is no talk of relief for him. the taxpay iS a "te. the guardian of the public purse Three a B° Crown lew of ship money finally cost King Charles his head, yarhame went to war rather than surrender its prerogative of financiall control Ye* ship money was a small matter compared with the heaped-up incon Mes of to div, or the sales tax, or the wages tax and levy. The modern Parliament is more concerned with spending than with co formal reference to the revision and ultimate repeal of increased and inequitable taxation, including sales and unemploymenttaxe s. In supporting the motion, however, Mr. Holland does not a have mentioned this item. Probably it was slipped in as a makeweight as it is not consistent with most of the other items, which c . for Increased expenditure and therefore heavier calls on A southern motorist' is reported to-day as saying that taxation is strangling the motor industry. That is scarcely an over-statemem when it is remembered that half the retail price of petrol goes; for taxes And that is only one of several heavy imposts put on motoring. Nor is this industry unique. In every walk of business and in private life, the deadweight of taxation bears upon the people, reducing spending power, eating up profit, checking expansion, and killing new enter in rlS addressing shareholders of the Standard Insurance Company recently, the chairman declared, .“The country cannot hope to recover its prosperity until such time as the people are inspired with mote confidence, and obtain some relief from their present heavy burdens of taxation.” Actually nothing would serve better to revive confidence than tax relief. Such small Concessions as have been made in Great Britain and Australia, and the expectation of further alleviation, have acted as a tonic. Incidentally the revenues promise to increase rather than decline/ , ■. Instead of spending time on discussing grandiose schemes for helping this class or vague remedies for curing that social ill all of them involving increased expenditure—Parliament should turn its main attention to taxation. New Zealand’s national income has been almost halved but the State is appropriating as much as ever it did, and far more in proportion., Such a condition of affairs is unhealthy and reacts throughout the body politic. By taking some of the weig.it off the bowed shoulders of the taxpayers, who are all the people, Parliament would make its most logical and most effective contribution toward recovery. _