HUGE LOSS

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 73, 30 March 1929, Page 13

HUGE LOSS

FEDERAL FINANCE

DEFICIT'MAY BE £5,000,000

(From ."The: Post's" Representative.) -..:.-, i ::."SYDNEY, 14th March.

.Well-informed circles at Canberra ex,pect: a huge Federal deficit this .'year. Certainly, members are agreed that: tho .Treasurer .-(JDiv Page) will have any-, .•thing :biitia cheerful story ;tb tell .when he present's his Budget, probably next August..'-.The 'financial year ends at .30t:h June," and unless a marked improvement is- shown during tho remaining three months, the receipts are bound .tofall far short of "the expenditure,, and"! there are definite indications :that the deficit will be between £3,000,000 and ' £5,000,000. ".--.-■ ■ "Last year Dr. Page admitted a/deficit of £2,600,000, but the Auditor-Genera], that, fearless critic of . Governments, ,aaid ..that the actual shortage was £.4,209,000. A" half-yearly financial •statemei.it. issued by the Treasurer shows a surplus of £820,000 for' the six months' working, but this cannot bo takehas au indication of the probable •■■'position;' at''the end' of tho-year. Tho real test is a, comparison with the prer. vipus half-year 'a statement, which. .sh"oV\'s that Dr. Page is really £2,000,----000; tp, tho, bad on the :figures for the half-year ended 31st.: December. Al-though-showing a. .surplus 1 of ■. nearly ,&3,000,00.0 for' the first half of 1927----2S, he.finished up. with.an.admitted los.s. of £2,000,000,: so.that the- outlook' for. tlio current "year; cannot, bo. regarded as reassuring. t\.. '. ' ; ' Customs and' excise, which contribute about three-quarters of the Federal revenue derived from taxation, continue to.show a serious falling off.- Compared 'with- a similar period last-year, the figures for the first half of the current financial year, under this head, have decreased by £1,29(5,000. Figures issued tb' tho en*d...6f'.February show that for the eight months of the present -financial year, Dr. Page's estimate of. the. Customs and excise revenuo Was more tJiair £1,000,000 short of the actual revenue. Ppst Office revenue was £250,----000 below the estimate, although showing an improvement. In presenting the Budget, last year.Dr. Page estimated a nominal surplus of only £13,000. Actually., it. is claimed, he. was budgeting for a deficit. Chving to a general slackness of trade it is not anticipated that .the income tax will cover tho shortage in the Customs 'revenue. The shrinkage of' Customs revenue isnot po much due to the shutting out of goods by a high tariff, as to a substantially reduced volume of trad© in all directions. During the year Government expenditure has not been reduced, so it is fairly obvious that there must be a deficit.. -

Another deficit is nnt likely to improve'tlic position, of-Dr. Page or the Country Party, which ho leads, and there is bound to ha a renewal of the demand that the Nationalists should cut adrift—that tho existing coalition should Be swept aside.