FLOOD SUFFERERS SEEK TAXATION AMENDMENT ONLY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22823, 18 December 1948, Page 8

FLOOD SUFFERERS SEEK TAXATION AMENDMENT ONLY

Subsidies to assist flood-stricken farmers or an insurance scheme against floods and other disasters were not considered the solution to the problem by members of the To Karaka branch of Federated Farmers, said Mr. G. S. Bridge at a meeting of the Gisborne provincial executive yesterday. Rather than throw the burden on to someone else, they preferred to be able to prepare themselves for the eventuality. That was in support of his motion, later carried, that the Income Tax Department be requested to allow damage done by flood as one of those items that arc permitted by the department to be included in the reserve maintenance account. If that course were adopted, Mr. Bridge considered that farmers could then “put by something in good times.” Mr. W. F.' Metcalfe, a member of the Sheep Industry Commission, said any recurring losses, such as flood gates, occasioned by the floods could be regarded as maintenance, but repairs done to properties damaged in the Gisborne flood—considered an act of God—“came under the heading of capital.’ That was so in the replacement of fences and to the best of his knowledge also in regard to the replanting of pastures. The motion was carried unanimously.