TAXATION BURDEN

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 7, 8 July 1935, Page 10

TAXATION BURDEN

LAST YEAR'S REVENUE

"HIGHEST EVER RECORDED"

OVER £15 PEE HEAD

. • How the burden of taxation in New Zealand has grown since 1933 is set out in • cold but • startling figures by i the- Government Statistician. Income, going by collection of tax, is over £200.000 more than it was in 1933. The chief increases in 1935 over 1933 are seen in customs, motor-vehicle taxation, death duties, totalisator tax, unemployment tax (about £500,000), and sales tax. This last-mentioned tax, however, was new in 1933. The returns for the past three flnan- . ciai years are as follows:— Item. ' 10.33. . I!>3+. W33. "rovcuuo . 6,131,41-1 6,485,011 7,423,597 Beer duty . 05.1,227 U55,4U4 o*l,ooß * "chicles 1,650,«05 1,703.527 1,910,452 Land tax ... 498,910 4DS,!)7S 492,520 Income tax 3,556,773 2,961,213 3,71)6,477 D(diiUos .. ..1,DU',003 1,300,742 2,205,394 Ba pn o k S ltio.T.' 208,122. 279,244 218,017 Stamp duty on interest 309,132 78,771 b8 DUs ytfu°ments 192,179 199,639 .238,093 T^e\ 302,371 340,740 371.986 Amusements Olh<S. S 361.050 . 372,780 430,377 Unemployment1 taxa- , ~., _ n , tlon 1,009,61)2 .4,113,221 4,0C1,u94 Film-hire • 32,900- 44,491 Safatax . 38,253 1,847,333 2,170,503 (iZv Xl'°rt '■is.e-JB. 117.090 ' ',102.017 li.te.-QSt lav - 4.-..000 41,079 Atilnsc tax . ; residue . — ■ Totals ... 19.703,703 21,170,82" 24,737,930 £ s' (1. £ s. d. £ s. d. *"&'.!?? 3217 0 .13 18 7 13 IST IMPROVED STATE OF BUSINESS. The increase ■in revenue from taxation' in 1934-35 over 1933-34, states the Government Statistician, reflects the improved : state: of business,. there having been no increases ',in. tax: assessment rates except in a few minor instances. Indeed, in two important flelds-r-Customs and unemployment taxation—there have been 'definite reductions in the rate and scope of taxation.. • ... Receipts in respect of Customs revenue, sales tax, and motor-vehicles taxation clearly indicate an improved business position in 1934-35, while income tax receipts (which relate to incomes of the pi-evious year) show that the improvement dates from 1933-34, when wool prices were comparatively high and the. aggregate value of production was £15,000,000 higher than in 1932-33. The increase in the case of death duties is mainly due to a few particularly large ectaites having become subject to duty during the yean . . The decrease in receipts fron. banknote duty is a result of the withdrawal of most of the trading bank notes from issue consequent on the establishment of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. ' ' The aggregate revenue from taxation in. 1934-35 is the highest ever recorded in New Zealand, and the taxation revenue per head has been exceeded only once—in 1920-21. . :