DOMINION TAXES

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 July 1936, Page 16

DOMINION TAXES

RECORD IN RETURNS. Some interesting figures are revealed in the national accounts just published. showing the revenue and expenditure of the Government for the year ended March 31 last. The Customs returns reached the highest level for six years, beer duty established a record, income tax yields were the highest for 14 years,' and land tax was the lowest recorded for a long period. The total of the revenue from all taxation sources was £1,378,800 greater than in the previous year. In the following table is given a comparison of the returns in three important taxation groups for the past seven years:—

The bed-rock year for the Budget was 1932-33, when total taxation yields fell to the low figure of £15,605,202. The turning point in individual items, however, has varied. Customs returns were at their minimum in 1931-32, income tax in 1933-34, and lana tax in the latest year, 1935-36. The yield from income tax last year exceeded that of any year since 1921-22. when a super tax of 20 per cent, was collected and the figure reached £6,003.000. In the' year previous to that, 1920-21, income tax then, with the super tax, produced the extraordinary high return of £8,248,945. Land tax revenue has been on an exceptionally low lev.el for five years, prior to which the return was consistently above £1,000.000, having reached the peak in the first year of the above table, although in 1929-30 the yield was below that of the early ’twenties, when the revenue from the land tax reached in one year, 1920-21, £1,688,978. Highway revenue has been rising consistently since 1932-33, and now exceeds £2,120,000, Sales tax now in its fourth year is producing at the rate of £2,500,000 annually.

Customs £ Land tax Income tax £ £ 1929-30 .. 8,897,046 1,506,911 3.533,764 1930-31 .. 7,605,976 1,145,617 4,003,605 1931-32 .. 5.901.348 542.128 4,447,814 1932-33 .. 6,131.413 ■ • 498,916 3,556,774 1933-31 ,. 6,485,013 498,977 2,961.243 1934-35 .. 7,423,597 492,525 3,796,476 1935-30 .. 8,161,161 458,897 4,581,328