INCOME TAX RETURN

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 June 1935, Page 2

INCOME TAX RETURN

■THE PUBLIC’S DIFFICULTIES. Some remarks made by the Hon. W. Downie Stewart at a meeting of the Perpetual Trustees, Estate and Agency Company, Limited, will appeal strongly to all who have wrestled with that annually-recurring problem, the compilation of their income-tax returns.

Referring to this subject, Mr Stewart said there was one feature of the present position so far as the administration and legislature were concerned that had been the subject of frequent criticism or complaint. He referred to the growing intricacy of

income tax returns and assessments, and he quite recognised and agreed with those who said so that it was becoming practically impossible to make up a return with any certainty or to check up the assessment. He did not want to say too much about

;his subject, as some of the complica-

tions arose when he was in the Administration, but they had grown much more intricate since. They seemed to be reaching the stage when the people who understood the making up of income tax returns were becoming like Chinese mandarins—a very exclusive class. One could not’ help thinking that one of the best tasks the legislature could devote itself to in the near future and as soon as possible was an investigation as to how far it was possible to simplify the assessments and returns in connection with taxation so that the average busi-

ness man would know where he stood and make his own returns without having cause to resort to a special staff of experts.