BUDGET SPEECH

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 76, 26 September 1941, Page 6

BUDGET SPEECH

MR. FADDEN UNDER FIRE

LABOUR OBJECTIONS

SAVINGS & INTEREST

(By Telegraph—Press Associatfion—Copyright.) (Rec. 1.30 p.m.)

CANBERRA, September 26,

The Prime Minister, Mr. A. W. Fadden, was almost continuously under fire from Labour, members during his Budget speech and had to appeal to the Chairman of Committees for a fair hearing.

Mr. R. G. Menzies sat in his own room during most of the speech.

Although Mr. J. Curtin, Leader of the Opposition, declined to comment last night, observers say that the Labour attack on the Budget i.s likely to be based, first on the proposed increase of Is a week in the d«ferred pay for soldiers, secondly on the proposed interest rate of 2 per cer.\t. on compulsory savings, thirdly on taxation of income from personal exertion at the same rate as that of income earned from property, and fourthly on the proposed compulsory loans by all persons without dependants earning more than £100 annually.

It is claimed that to institute deferred pay for soldiers would amount practically to a compulsory loan to the Government without interest.

The interest rates on compulsory loans are likely to be a major issue.' Labour men say that earners of low wages, who will be compelled to lend money they cannot afford, will receive only 2 per cent. Labour men claim that low wage earners should receive at least as much as, if not more than, the interest on money received by private banks.

Labour has always held that income derived from personal exertion should not be taxed as heavily as income from property.

Two Independents, Messrs. Wilson and Coles, either of whom could cause the defeat of the Government in a Labour attack on the Budget, declined to comment.