FEDERAL BUDGET

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 38, 13 August 1915, Page 2

FEDERAL BUDGET

ENORMOUS WAR EXPENDITURE f INCOME TAX BILL. \ (By Telegraph.— Press Association.-Copyright.) MELBOURNE, 12th Augu«. Dealing with the Budget In $h» Federal House, Mr. Fisher estimaned that the revenue for the current ye«r would be £23,540,000, and the expenditure £74,043,104— an. increase of £37.219,489, chiefly special war ex- ' penditure. He estimated the latter at £45,749,450. The new income tax is expected to yield four millions sterling. (Received August 13, 9.40 a.m.) MELBOURNE, This Day. In the House, the Attorney-General (Mr. Hughes) obtained lea,ve to introduce the Federal Income Tax Bill. As foreshadowed, it provides for a gradu- ( ated tax ranging from 3d to 3s in the £. Ho promised details on the second reading to-day. (Received August 13, 10 a.m.) • MELBOURNE, Thk Day. Regarding the income tax, the Attorney-General explained that the exemption of salaries upon the first £156 was gradually abated as the incomes increased, till it disappeared ' when ( the income ( \va-s £1000, with an : additional exemption of £13 for every , child under sixteen, irrespective of ill- ! come, Companies were taxed only on i undistributed" profits. | According to the Melbourne Age, the proposals of the Commonwealth Govern- , ment with regard to the" income tax ; rates to be charged were dtecloeed for ' the first time at a meeting of the Federal Labour Party Caucus at Melbourne on 30th July. As has been previously stated, the tax is to be a graduated one, starting at 3d in the pound, and rising, according to the salary i earned, to as much as se. in the pound. The amount of the exemption to be fixed was the subject of much discussion. The proposal of the Ministry was that it should l>o £166 per- annum, but borne of the rank and tile favoured a minimum of £200. In the end the Gov. ernment won the day, and consequently all parsons in receipt of £157 and over will be called upon to make a^ further contribution to the revenue of the Commonwealth. There will, however, be a further exemption ,of £18 for each child under 16 years of age, so that a person with one child receiving £169 per year will escape taxation, and so on accord" ing to the number of children in the family. All salaries up to £1000 a y«ar w}ll be granted the benefit of the exemption, but the full amount of higher salaries will be taxable. For instance, the 6ec» ond line of the schedule £500 (over tne exemption) 7d, meane that 7d in the £ will have to be paid on, a. salary of £657, of which £157 will be exempted. The rates in the caise of income derived from personal exertion are as follow :■— Tax in the pound.

On incomes between these totals the amount of the tax will, as already explained, be graduated. In the case of incomes derived frmi property the rates are slightly higher, ranging from lOd in the- £ on amount^ of £500 to 5s in the £ oa JQ 7000 and ovei The respective amounts ai'o as follow ;- Tax in ti

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potuicL Income. ». <d. ££00 0 10 £1000 ... 1 I £2000 2 6 £3000 3 3 £4000 4 0 £5000 „. i 6 £6000 . . 4 9 £7000 .."". ... 6 0 i I i The tax is estimated to yield a revenue of about £4,000,000.

Salary £500 (over the exemption) ... £1000 (o?ei l the exemption) ... £2000 , £3000 £4000 ... £5000 £6000 £7750 and ov« i». a. 0 3 0 7 0 10 1 6 2 0 3 0 3 6 i 0 6 0