AUSTRALIAN BUDGET

Evening Star, Issue 23745, 28 November 1940, Page 10

AUSTRALIAN BUDGET

SHARP INCREASE IN TAXATION BIG SALARY DEDUCTIONS IN NEW YEAR Press Association —By Telegraph—Copyright CANBERRA, November 27. (Received! November 28, at 8 a.m.) Staggering taxation increases were announced by the Federal Treasurer (Mr Fadden) in the House of Representatives to-day. The full impact of the blow will be felt when the weekly deductions from wages and salaries begin on January 1. Then, for example, a taxpayer on an income of £6OO. with one dependent, will lose £1 18s weekly in Federal tax alone. Taxpayers on £4OO, with one dependent, will pay 16s weekly, and the man on £I,OOO will pay £4 11s. Four shillings is being allowed for each dependent. Mr Fadden introduced the tax schedule with regret, but “ without apology.” The schedule relating to personal exertion provides an average rat© on taxable income of Is in the pound to £3OO, thence increasing by 4-100ths of a penny per pound to £1,500, and in excess over £1.500 10s per pound. The property rate will be 25 per cent, greater than the personal exertion rates up to £1,200, and in excess over £1,200 the rate will be 10s in the pound, A MINISTER EXPLAINS SCHEDULE CANBERRA, November 28. (Received November 28, at 9.5 a.m.) Mr Fadden, explaining the taxation schedule, said the war must be won, and to use Mr Churchill’s phrase it could only be done through blood, tears, and sacrifice. No words were needed to justify even the uncomfortable weight of taxation. He said the weekly deductions under the compulsory instalment plan beginning on January 1 would rise from Is 6d weekly on salaries of £3 to £5 weekly on £2O salaries. This plan would continue until June 23. Those higher paid would, in the aggregate, contribute £20,006,000 and the middle income group £8,000,000, while wage earners in the £4OO group would be required to find £5,000,000. LIQUOR PRICES INCREASED WHOLE COUNTRY AFFECTED CANBERRA, November 28. (Received November 28, at 9.16 a.m.) The increases in liquor prices announced last night affect the whole of Australia. Bottled' beer in all States except New South Wales will be increased from to-day by 2d a bottle, but in New South Wales the increase will be lsd. Beer sold over the counter in New South Wales has been increased by Id per lhalf-pint, in. Victoria Id per lloz glass and Jd per 7oz glass. Similar adjustments are being made in Queensland and other States, except in some instances. The size of the glasses is being reduced instead of price increases in Western Australia, South Australia, and Tasmania. The price of spirits in all States is being increased by Id a nip. HEAVIEST TAXATION IN AUSTRALIA'S HISTORY CANBERRA, November 28. (Received November 28, at 1.30 p.m.) To finance Australia’s wartime Budget of £276,000,000 taxation rates unprecedented in Australia’s history will be imposed. Wage and salary earners will pay from three to thirteen times more in Federal tax than they paid last year. Statutory exemption has been reduced from £250 to £l5O and vanishes on salaries over £3OO.

The tax. which leaps from £5 on a single man’s income of £2OO a year to £ll7 on a single man’s income of £I,OOO a year, must be paid within six months. A man on a salary of £5,000 a year, with a wife and child, will pay £1,633 in Federal tax and £2,466 in combined Federal and State incomes and wages taxes. Mr Curtin stated that his party would ask Parliament to restore the statutory exemption to £250, to review the incidence of taxation on the high and lower tax groups, and the company tax on large and small companies respectively. He will move for a postponement of the first item of the Estimates in an attempt to force a revision of the Budget. Mr Fadden was booed by Labour members when he outlined the new scales of taxation., There were shouts of “ Shame ” and “ Barefaced robbery.” CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE ANOTHER INDIAN SENTENCED TRIOHINOPOLY,' November 26. Dr T. S. Rujan, former Congress Minister for Madras, was sentenced to imprisonment for one year and fined £75- for civil disobedience. FURTHER SENTENCE MADRAS, November 26. Dr Prakasam, another former Congress Minister, was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment for civil disobedience. TWO MORE ARRESTS BOMBAY, November 27. (Received November 28, at noon.) Mr Mavlankar, Speaker of the Bombay Assembly, and Mr Mrishna Sinha, a former Premier of Behar, have been arrested..