TAXATION

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 52, 10 September 1928, Page 8

TAXATION

(To the Editor.) Sir,—lt is a pity "Observer" did not take the trouble to ascertain the facts for himself before he sent you the very misleading statement which he took from "a Home paper" (unnamed) concerning taxation. If Mr. Winston Churchill's figures have been correctly stated in that paper, then he has been grievously _ misinformed concerning the actual position, as in the case of at least two countries (Australia and New Zealand) the figures are absurdly miss-stated. Those given for the year 1926 state that the per capita taxation in Australia was £9 Is and in New Zealand £14 Os Od. The actual figures are:—Australia £12 19s 9d, New Zealand £12 7s lid. I take both figures from the Compendiums issued by the respective offices of the Government Statisticians for the Commonwealth and New Zealand, and it may be of interest- to your readers to note the position as it affects the fiveyear period 1922-2G: —- Year. Australia. New Zealand. 1922 £12 5 1 £12 14 8 1923 £12 3 7 : £11 19 8 1924 £12 6 7 £12 8 0 1925 £12 13 8 £12 3 5 1920 £12 19 9 £12 7 11 The 1927 figures show a further drop in the case of New Zealand of £12 5s 6d, with a still further drop to £11 8s 6d for 1928; the Australian figures for 1927 being £14 5s (vide page 76 of the "Pocket Compendium of Australian Statistics" published in July of this year). The 1928 figures so far are not available from Australia. According to the "A.B.C. of Queensland and Australian Statistics," compiled by the Registrar-General by direction of the Attorney-General, the Hon. John Mullan, the per capita taxation in Queensland for 1927 was £14 los 2d, and in New South Wales £14 14s Od, that rate'of taxation being only exceeded by Tasmania, where it amounted to £15 7s 7d. The "Statesman's Year Book" for 1927, issued by the New South Wales Government Statistician, by the way, gives the taxation per head of population in that State as £16 11s 7d. It is to bo regretted that the statement attributed to Mr. Winston Churchill appears also in the 29th August issue of the "Mercantile Gazette," with the note that ''the New Zenland tax burden is about double that of Canada and more than 50 per cent, higher than Australia, and yet the Minister of Finance does not think the burden a- heavy one." The facts are otherwise.—l am, etc., EHNEST A. JAMES. 10th September.