CORRESPONDENCE. NEW ZEALAND'S FINANCES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 28, 3 February 1908, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE. NEW ZEALAND'S FINANCES.

TO THE EDIIOR. Sir,— By a telegram fiom Auckland tho public is gleefully told on tho authority of the Hight Hon. the Premier that the revenue for tho year to 31st January last exceeds that of the previous for the same term by £521,877. Surely, in presence of the Government assurance that tho tariff on the whole carried concessions to the taxpayer, this is a truly marvellous outcome. Is it possible that after all the Ministerial tariff reforms really meant an increase of taxation? If one turns to the past for guidance the statistics are suggestive of something of that sort, fix 1891, the year the Bullance Government succeeded to office, the amount then rai&ecl by taxation was £3,179.739. In 1906-7 the amount so raised had risen to £4,--264,555 or nearly doubled, But if we apply this to the rate per head of the mean population, the increase is at the alarming rate of 37 cent. Surely this i 3 a crushing increase over which there is little room for boasting. Beyond this the taxpayers' burden is further augmented by the local body taxation. In 1895-6, the first year for which 1 find the returns available, this amounted to £686,089; last year local taxations ran up to £1,--338,536, being an increase at tho rate of 95 per cent. Statistical facts aro perhaps too much lost sight of, yet when considered they teach a very important, if in this case a disturbing, lesson. — I am, etc. , , JNO. DUTHIE. Wellington, 3rd February.