THRIFT AND DRIFT

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 132, 2 December 1930, Page 13

THRIFT AND DRIFT

INCOME TAX LIMITS

PROPERTY CAN'T BEAR LOAD

"PUT IT ON HORSES"

Promineut bookmakers'in Sydney (it is cabled) declare that tho Lang Government's tax on betting winnings "will kill racing altogether." Property owners in Melbourne told the Hogan Government, a few days before, that further taxation on income from properties would kill real estate 'altogether. . They suggested instead a tax on bookmakers' turnover. ! TAXING THE OTHER FELLOW. On first facing a revenue shortage, everybody is prepared to prescribe tax medicine. for the other fellow. The property-less salary-earner, convinced that his income tax (earned income) is already top high', is. not worrying so much over super-taxation of income from property—but may do so if he finds that it: reacts in higher rents. Pursued to its ultimate effects, the difference "between taxing earned income and taxing unearned income may not be as great a-s is apparent. So also with Customs taxation; a tax on an imported article may not be of the same immediate personal concern as a tax on income, but, like the other taxes, it registers against purchasing power. All these ramifications of taxation have' been thought into lately by Australians as never before. And the search for a scape-goat has driven even Mr. Lang to the horse,i or rather to the betting organisations. Mr. Hogan, Labour Premier of Victoria, must have been thinking of that, too, for when a deputation of propertyowners told him that a 1 per cent, tax on bookmakers' turnover would yield £400,000 a year, Mr. Hogan begged to differ. He thought £150,000 was nearer the mark. The deputation urged that heavier taxation on persons deriving theh\income from property would, impose an unfair and unendurable burden upon the thrifty section of the community, and would cause the building industry to be further depressed, with the result that there would be still more unemployment. THE PROPEKTY SQUEEZE. "Thrifty people are approaching the breaking point," said Mr. T. E. Ashworth, . who spoke for the Employers' Federation and the Taxpayers' Association.- "There is not enough thrift in Australia, and it is tragic to think that people who have been industrious and thrifty enough to buy a little property should have to carry so heavy a load." : Mr. T. H. Nattress, president of the Eeal Estate Agents' Association, said that the increases proposed would be a very severe blow to investment in real estate. At present sales were few, and house owners had been compelled to reduce rents from as much as 10s to 15s a week in Essendon and Moonoe Ponds. Many houses were vacant, and many tenants were workless, and could pay no rent. Mr. J. Jordan, president of the Master Builders' Association of Victoria, presented figures indicating- the decline in building in the metropolitan area. He said that in 1927 the number of dwellings built was 4841, valued at £4,375,070; in 1925, 3744 (£3,490,----430); in 1929, 2762 (£2,749,030); and in 1930 1087 (£1,063,034). Buildings other' than; dwellings erected :in 1927 numbered 3477, valued at & 1,621,483, whereas in 1930 the number was 1862, valued at £071,304."'(What we want," added Mr. Jordan, "is to get the men back to work. h I am convinced that if the Ministry, were courageous enough to suspend wages awards and dctermina-. tions much work would be begun even now, and there would be fewer unemployed. '' Mr. Hogan said that the Victorian Government would receive from the' racegoing public about £400,000, and as racegoers had to pay ordinary taxes las well he was opposed to any further increases in imposts on betting. MORE, TAX BUT LESS YIELD. Mr. Hogan alsp made a statement that touches on the danger underlying the whole scheme of high taxation— Ihe said that although income tax rates would be higher the revenue from that souuee would be less in Victoria this year than last year—£2,9Bl,ooo, compared with. £2,83(5,000. To the chorus of "I can't bear it" is added the complaint of various kinds of middle-man, in Sydney: "Probably not 1 per cent, of the tens of thousands of customers who visit the stoves of Sydney every day have an approximately accurate idea of the enormous .load of overhead expenses which is carried by each of them. Bates, taxes, and insurance premiums amount to an immense sum. There are stores which arc paying as much as £200 a week under those three headings alone. It is not surprising, therefore, that they watch closely any change in these costs. Directors- know that it is most unlikely that the change will be downward. They are well aware, too, that they cannot bear much heavier expenses. They scan, the lists of the members of the Federal and State Parliaments, and marvel that they can be at the mercy of groups of men so little qualified to deal with the business of a country. sSome of them could, not deal intelligently with a poultry farm,; said one business man, 'yet they are continually adding to the burdens of those who provide for the public."