CHARGES AND REVENUE

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 139, 15 June 1931, Page 8

CHARGES AND REVENUE

It would not be reasonable to base ail estimate of this year's Post and Telegraph revenue on the returns for one month of last year, when _ the higher charges were in operation. All that may be said is that the March results suggest a doubt whether the Finance Minister's estimate of the increased revenue will be realised. At a time like this, il must be admitted,' it is extremely difficult to devise new ways of obtaining revenue which will not check business. The higher telegraph charges have certainly checked'business by compelling a re-examination of accounts, which has led to reductions. Probably the postal increases have also lessened the volume of business. Not that we believe that even doubling the rale would.cause a business man or private correspondent to write less than formerly —unless one were looking for an excuse for neglected letter-writing—but there must have been a diminution in the volume of advertising business personally addressed. It is not only in charges for direct services lhaL limit; is ihjs risk of ksMag ktekesa i

The same principle applies lo revenue dulies imposed through llie Customs. .For example, cigarette dulies, which equal half the retail price oi' the article, must lead to the search for substitutes, and, if these cannot be found, to abstention. With many foodstuffs and many articles of apparel there is the same tendency. Too heavy a duly on silk restricts its use, and tea heavily taxed becomes a luxury. Such restriction may justify reformers who disapprove cigarettes, lea, and silk stockings; but a Minister of Finance who is looking for revenue may lind lax-freed abstemiousness and economy embarrassing.