THE TAXPAYER'S TURN

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 56, 4 September 1944, Page 1

THE TAXPAYER'S TURN

A Government which imposes heavy taxation has a special duty to ensure that the weight is evenly spread and that all elements of injustice are removed. Even in time of war, when the need for raising abnormal sums in taxation is admitted, there can be no excuse for anomalies which cause hardship to •certain sections. Speaking on the annual taxing Bill last week, the Leader of the Opposition drew attention to some obvious anomalies in the existing lajgr and urged that a Royal Commission should be set up to investigate the whole system. Mr. Holland made special mention of the anomaly of paying- taxation on taxes that had already been paid, and the wholly iriadequate exemption of £50 for a wife and each child. There are many other undesirable features which call for immediate ■adjustment. They have been brought to the notice of the Government on numerous .occasions, but so far with very little result. There have been several overhauls of the taxation system since the present Government assumed office, but, almost without exception, they have been overhauls designed to extract more revenue. They have been for the benefit of the tax collector, not for the taxpayer. What the taxpayer wants to know is when his turn is coming. Consideration of the difficulties under which he is labouring is long overdue.