1934 BUDGET

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 128, 1 June 1935, Page 8

1934 BUDGET

SURPLUS OF £1,626,000 FORTUITOUS RECEIPTS REVENUE EXCEEDS ESTIMATE (By Telegraph—Press Association.) DUNEDIN, May 31. In an official statement today the Acting Minister of Finance (the Hon. A. Hamilton) said that on ths eve of his departure for London the Minister of Finance (the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates) made a preliminary statement as to the outcome of last year's Budget, wherein he indicated that on the incomplete figures then available the surplus for the year would be in the vicinity of £1,500,000. "The accounts have now been completed, and, subject to a final check by the Audit Office, I am in a position to make a more precise statement of the results," said Mr. Hamilton. For the last financial year the revenue for the year amounted to £26,126,000 and the expenditure to £24,500,000, leaving a surplus of £1,626,000. "All will agree that this is a very satisfactory outcome of last year's Budget, although, as pointed out by Mr. Coates when making his announcement, the surplus is really due to additional receipts of a fortuitous nature which cannot be counted upon to recur. Kevenue compares with Budget estimates as follows:— Budget Excess Estimates. Receipts. liucctnts. £ £ £ Taxation .. 10,305,000 20,178,000 873,000 Interest ... 2,885,000 2,930,000 43,000 Other receipts 2,062,000 3,018,000 950,000 Totrvls . 24,252,000 26,128,000 1,874,000 REVENUE ESTIMATES EXCEEDED. "Under the heading of taxation, the principal item concerned in the excess receipts is stamp and death duties, showing an excess over the estimate of £790,000. This excess, however, is due to abnormal receipts under the.heading of death duties, an item that from its very nature cannot be estimated in advance apart from averages. The abnormal receipts last year cannot continue at that level, so this increase must be regarded asjargely fortuitous. Apart from stamp and death duties, taxation items as a whole showed a net excess over the estimates of £83,000, thus the estimates made were fairly accurate. "I might mention, however, that Customs revenue fell short of the estimate by £176,000, but this was more than offset by the fact that practically every other item exceeded the estimate, the principal amounts in excess being: Income tax £146,000; beer duty, £46,000; highways revenue, £50,000; and sales tax, £20,000. "Under the heading of interest, the net excess of £45,000 is made up of £136,000 over the Budget estimate in the case of the railways, partly offset by £19,000 in the case of the Post, Office, £13,000 from the Public Debt Redemption Fund, and £61,000 in respect of other public moneys. PROFITS FROM SALE CF GOLD. "All miscellaneous items grouped under the heading of other receipts returned a net excess over the Budget estimate of £956,000, but this large , amount is due to a windfall item, 'proi fits on the sale of gold by the Reserve Bank.' "In the aggregate, these profits amounted to £1,360,000, and this largely accounted for the Budget surplus that resulted from the year's operations. "On the other side of the picture the expendi>jre for the year compares with the estimates and appropriations as follows:— Estimate. Expenditure. Inc. £ £ £ Debt services .. 9,777,000 0,781,000 . 4,000 Motor taxation . 1,361,000 1.587,000 226,000 Exchange 1,305,000 1,459,000 154,000 Other permanent appropriations ' 613,000 615,000 2,000 Social services . 7,182,000 7,115,000 *37,000 Other annual votes 4,000,000 3,913,000 •37,000 Totals ... 24,238,000 24,500,000 262,000 •Decrease. SAVING ON ANNUAL VOTES. "It will be seen that the expenditure exceeded the estimates by £262,000, but two items more than account for the excess. Motor taxation, which item is for the transfer of revenue to the highways account, is £286,000 above the estimate, but this is due. partly to the fact that on the other side receipts under the same heading exceeded, the estimate and partly to the fact that the amount retained in the Consolidated Fund was less than was allowed for in the Budget. Thus it is merely a transfer item, the actual expenditure of these moneys being made out of the highways account. The other item in excess is exchange, which 'excess is due to cash requirements in London being slightly greater than was snticipated. Apart from these two items, expenditure was closely in accord with appropriations, and a pleasing feature of the accounts is a saving of £124,000 which was made on annual votes. "The surplus realised has been automatically applied in reduction of accumulated deficits from the years 1931----32 and 1933-34. "Finally, I may add that during the year all operations under the Banks Indemnity (Exchange) Act were finalised. The suspense account was extinguished and all Treasury bills concerned were paid off, and as a result the Public Debt decreased during the year by over £20,000,000."