BACK TO 1930

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 19, 23 January 1937, Page 8

BACK TO 1930

The aim of the Labour Government is to restore prosperity, to bring it back to the pre-depression level. In what measure it has succeeded or will succced in doing so is uncertain; but the Associated Chambers of Commerce point out that already expenditure and taxation are above the prc-depression mark. A statement issued by the Associated Chambers shows that the estimated Government expenditure for the current financial year will exceed the actual expenditure of 1929-30 by 23 per cent., the estimated yield from taxation (other than unemployment taxes) will be 33 i per cent, greater than the actual yield of 1929-30, and taxation per head has risen from £13 3s 7d to £19 3s (estimated). The whole of the taxation increase is not the work of the present Government. The Coalition Government, in an effort to curtail loan expenditure and to compensate for the diminished yield of existing taxes, raised the rates and made new levies. But the Labour Party, which protested that taxation had gone too far, has done nothing to reverse the onward march. It has taken the increased proceeds of heavier taxes and demanded more. The taxpayers know now Labour's answer to the question: "Where is the money coming from?" But the l Government should not think this is the final word. The people will put the last question: "Where is the money going to?" and a Government which exacts heavy taxation must be ready to show that the products of its spending are worth to the taxpayer as much as he pays.