Greymouth Evening Star. THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 1949. Mr Nash And His Taxes

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 August 1949, Page 4

Greymouth Evening Star. THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 1949. Mr Nash And His Taxes

JVJR NASH’S revenue figures for last year, covering all sources, showed an excess of £7,657,000 over the estimate.. He could thus have’ afforded an income tax rebate of about £35 to every individual taxpayer and still have balanced his Budget. This fact will be worth bearing in mind in considering the Budget proposals which Mr Nash will present m the House of Representatives tonight.' Obviously on the present basis of Mr Nash’s financial methods, he could make substantial tax reductions. With a show of. great liberality last year, the .. Minister announced a rebate .of £lO on all individual income tax assessments. The reduction in. his revenue because of this concession, he announced somewhat, plaintively, would be £3,250,000. But, somehow or other, he still managed to collect from the people the record amount, of £49,000,000, or 'nearly £8,000,000 more than he said he would take from them. Peace still costs the New Zealand taxpayer more than war. The summary 'Of the Public Accounts for the year ended on March 31 last, which was published early in June, contained an almost casual admission that taxation from all sources last vear yielded the staggering total of £130.000,000, an increase of 13 per cent, over the highest levy imposed during the war years. It is illuminating to compare the total taxation in the year immediately preceding the war with the rate Mr Nash has raised steadily since 1945. The figures, with social security taxation included under the general heading, arc as follows: —

The total is now about £7O per head 01. population, man, woman, and child. The »Government collected in income tax alone last year all that it collected in income tax, social security charge, customs duties, sales tax and all other revenues 10 years ago—and an additional £11,000.000 into the bargain. Actually, Mr Nash showed a surplus on last year’s working of £2,631,000, but it could been about £9,000,000 if he had not spent at least £6,000,000 more than Parliament expressly authorised him to spend. Excessive taxation means, in large measure, the diversion of money required for production, to the needs of the State, vith no guarantee that the needs of the State are the real needs of the country. While preaching the urgency o'f greater production, the Government, both by excessive taxation and excessive expenditure, has hindered the achievement of that aim. All told, the position of the public accounts presents a picture of a people overlaid with taxes in a spendthrift State.

General War Year. taxation. taxation. ■ Total. £ £ £ 1939 . 37,798,000 — 37,798,000 1945 . 59,928,000 48,732,000 108,660,000 1946 . 63,513,000 51,417,000 114,930,000 1947 .. 113,114,000 — 113,114,000 1948 122,275,000 — ■* 122,275,000 1949 . 130,434,000 — 130,434,000