SALES TAX EVILS

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 December 1934, Page 4

SALES TAX EVILS

EARLY ABOLITION URGED. [FEB PBESS ASSOCIATION.] DUNEDIN, December 17. A decision to urge the Associated Chambers of Commerce to use every means in their power to have the sales tax abolished as soon as possible was reached by the Council of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce at a meeting to-night. The President (Mr. C. B. Barrowclough) said that the tax might have been a necessity, but it pressed more heavily on the community and caused more expenses in its operation than any other. Mr. A. H. Allen said that in a statement issued immediately before his departure for Australia, the Minister for Finance (Mr. J. G. Coates) indicated that the revenue of the various State Departments was steadily improving, and showed that the sales tax for six months from April to October amounted to close on £1,250,000. “This tax,” said Mr. Allen, “is most irritating and cumbersome, and has caused much unnecessary work and expense.” The tax was unfair in its incidence. It compelled business houses to act as collecting agents, and it increased the cost of living, notably to workers, as well as the cost of production. It was in name a tax of 5 per cent., but if anyone took the, trouble to work it out he would find that it ranged from 10 to 15 per cent. It was increasing the already large staff of public servants. The tax was being collected at the rate of £2,500,000 a year, and he was sure that the public did not realise how much it was paying. The business community, said Mr. Allen, did not want the tax reduced. It wanted it abolished. A reduction to 3d or 6d in the £1 would cause just as much work as Is, as at present. During the year ended March 31, 1934, the Government collected from taxpayers £4,000,000 more than in the year 1931-32. More than half of this tax yield had been needed to meet the cost of the Government Departments that had nothing to do with debt payments or unemployment tax. Unless the sales tax was abolished, the position would become chronic.