WAR TAXES

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 3, 28 September 1939, Page 11

WAR TAXES

Rates On Individuals And Companies

EXAMPLES GIVEN BY MINISTER Isolation Of Finances “The major principle of this Bill is the complete isolation of war costs —both revenue and expenditure —from all other Government finances,” said the Minister of Finance, Mr. Nash, when moving the second reading of the War Expenses Bill in the House of Representatives yesterday. All war expenses would be dealt with in the War Expenses Account, Mr. Nash said, and ultimately it would come to Parliament for analysis and approval.

Though the Government estimated that the amount required for war purposes for the remainder of the present financial year would be £9,750,000, the Minister said, that estimate could not be made with the usual degree of accuracy, as it was not possible to foresee what might happen. If the necessity arose for expenditure beyond the estimate, the money would have to be obtained from the Reserve Bank or from the public in the ordinary Illustrating the effect of the 15 per cent, increase in income tax, Mr. Nash said that a taxable income of £lOO, which at present brought £lO/8/4, would return £ll/19/7 on the new scale. A taxable income of £2OO would bring an extra £3/5/-, £3OO would give another £5/1/3, £5OO an additional £9 1/3, £2OOO an extra £55, £6OOO a further £350, and £7900 another £5OB. The case of a married man with two children was typical of a large section of taxpayers, the Minister added. With an assessable income of £4OO he would pay an additional 15/3 only, with £6OO he would pay £4/2/9 more, with £BOO another £B/0/3, with £lOOO £l2/7/9 more, with £2OOO £4l/15/3 more, with £5OOO £204 more, and with £7900 another £419. A married man with two children did not pay income tax unless he had an assessable income of at least £350.

The effect of the new impost on company taxation was also outlined by Mr. Nash. 'A company with a taxable income of £lOO would pay another £1 11/-, £3OO would bring £4/19/- more, £5OO an additional £B/15/-, £lOOO another £2O, £2OOO an extra £5O, £4OOO another £l4O. £BOOO an additional £l4O, £20,000 another £llB7, and £50,000 an increase of £2968/15/-. Tax on a company income of £50,000 would actually be increased from £19,791 to £22.760. The Minister emphasized the importance of aviation in the Dominion’s defence needs. The sum of £3,500,000 had been set aside for the Air Force for the remainder of the year, he said, but if it were found possible to make greater provision for the training of airmen than present plans envisaged the Government would do that to the limit.

INDUSTRIAL LAW

Bill To Remove Defects

Minor amendments affecting industrial legislation are contained in _ the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment (No. 2) Bill, which was introduced by Governor-Generai’s message in the House of Representatives last night The Bill was read a second time pro forma and referred to the Labour Bills Committee. Unless the parties agree _ on some other centre, all Dominion disputes affecting two or more industrial districts are to be heard in Wellington. Where a dispute is completely settled in conciliation council the assessors may require the terms of settlement to be forwarded directly to the Arbitration Court, wherever it may be, and the Court may make an award embodying these terras without a formal hearing of the dispute. Any party bound by such an award may, however, apply for total or partial exemption within one month after it is made. The Bill makes it clear that an industrial magistrate may exercise the powers of the Arbitration Court under the Factories Act and the Shops and Offices Act if delegated to him by the Court.

Another clause removes any doubt as to the validity of any determinations made by Mr. Justice Callan while acting as judge of the Arbitration Court.

“This Bill clears up two or three slight anomalies in the present Act on which representations were made to me by the Employers’ Federation and the Federation of Labour,” said the Minister of Labour, Mr. Webb, when the Bill was introduced. He added that the measure had the support of the interested parties. It,simply cleared up some of the defects in the present Act.