Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 1916. THE BUDGET SURPRISE

Evening Post, Volume XCI, Issue 146, 21 June 1916, Page 6

Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 1916. THE BUDGET SURPRISE

The. introduction of the most interesting and important Budget ever submitted to a. New Zealand Parliament has' not been followed by a debate of proportionate interest and. importance. History may have to record the introduction of Budgets of even greater moment, and the "series will probably begin next year if the' ■war is still raging when Parliament meets again.. But the brevity of the Budget de-bate of 1916 can never be exceeded. The motion, "That the Speaker do now leave the Chair, in order that the House may go into Committee o£ Supply," which under ordinary conditions is the signal for. the letting loose of the greatest flood of eloquence and criticism in the whole session, was disposed of in a few seconds. Probably at least, a dozen members would have been ready to open the ball if they had had even a minute's notice of what the alternative would be. But as it was, while each was waiting for somebody else to begin, the Speaker put the motion and declared it carried. Members awoke to find that their chance of winning distinction in what should ha.ye been a memorable debate had gone by for «ver. The financial debate had collapsed, and the Speaker had left the chair. In normal times such a collapse would not be regarded as ft very serious calamity except by those whose projected eloquence thus met an untimely and unexpected; fate, but the uniquo character of the present Budget and the need for the. utmost, circumspection and thoroughness in the handling of it make yesterday's sin-prise a. matter for genuine regret. The suppression of. the party polemics, which monopolise so large a share of an ordinary financial debate to the entire exclusion of finance, might reasonably bo regarded as a positive, blessing, but this consideration is not relevant now. Nat .party bickerings, bttt-'t-lis tisesii of'.'ths esttatrjr aad ths , Empire, axil the predominant -ißtssusV in

j the minds of members to-day, and animated hy this spirit discussion of a Budget which abounds in novel and important points should have proved of the utmost value. ■ Drastic as the Budget undoubtedly is in some respects when measured by the standards of the days of peace, the general opinion certainly is that it does not go far enough to meet the special needs created by the war. The country was ready for a considerable increase of the land tax, but the Budget is silent on the point. A general' increase of this form of taxation, graduated so ss to hit the large 'estates with special force, would have served the double purpose of providing more revenue and of forcing more land into the market at a time when the needs of our aoldiei-s and the stringency of financial conditions ha-ve made tdie .demand for land more urgent and the task of supplying it more difficult than ever. Even last- year there was not a, little surprise and disappointment over the neglect of so easy, obvious, and equitable a means of enlarging the revenue as an increase of the ordinary land tax. It is still more surprising and disappointing that after our National Government has been nearly a year in office this neglect should still continue, and that no attempt should be made to remedy the proved inadequacy of the increases in the graduated taxation introduced last year. The repeal of the mortgage tax, -which, last year was brought up to the level of "the land tax, is doubtless sound in principle, but the extent of the improvement will remain uncertain until the necessary Bill is introduced. Meanwhile we must be content with. the. assui'ance that the substitution for theonortgage tax of an income tax derived from mortgages, "while giving relief to -the . owners of ■ sma.ll sums invested on mortgage, will impose a heavier tax on the income of those having large investments." With regard to the income tax itself, the 45 per cent, tax on war profits and the extra 5 per cent, on other incomes are good as far as they go. But why the income tax, which at preseni ranges from 8d on the lower taxable incomes to 2s 8d on the higher ones, should now be increased by a uniform Is, in entire disregard of the principle of gradation, is a mystery which will require a good deal of explaining. Explanations on this point and others might have cleared up many doubts, and the discussion of them would have heiped to improve the proposals of the Government "before they took legislative shape. But the collapse of the financial debate has deprived us of this opportunity and increased the need for caution when the Bills themselves appear.