BRITISH BUDGET.

Grey River Argus, 20 April 1923, Page 5

BRITISH BUDGET.

COMMONS DEBATE. LABOUR CRITICISM. (A. and N.Z. Cable Association.) LONDON, April 18. Mr Philip Snowden (Labour) resumed the Budget debate. He said he had hoped that the Chancellor would have resisted the temptation to sacrifice sound finance to political expediency. He had heard with dismay that the Chancellor favoured a tax on betting. 1 ‘Must the country,” he asked, “have recourse to is perhaps the second greatest curse in the conn try?’’ The high beer tax had been the greatest measure of temperance ever carried. The country could net afford to have an increased consumption of liquor. He would say little about a capital levy, because they were asking the Government to give a special day for its consideration. The Government could rely on Labour’s strenuous opposition to most of the Budget proposals. They would move j n amendment to the Finance Bill to provide for the adoption of a capital levy. Mr Asquith congratulated the ('han cellor on the Budget. Income tax had. for the past year, yielded £50,000,000 over the expectations of last year. Mr Baldwin’s debt reduction proposal was sound. A sinking fund of 1 per cent, on tho total deadweight debt would cost £80,000,000 per year. He did not suggest that it would be possible this year, but they ought to work up to it. He viewed the income tax, he said, as nothing but a modified and vicious form of the capital levy, nothing but an actual capital levy. He doubted whether he could have remitted any taxation. He did not intend to oppose the income tax reduction, but he thought that if a reduction of the indirect taxation were possible, from the points of view’ of trade, and social and domestic life, a sugar duty reduction should be preferred to that given on beer. The Liberals, he said, would propose the reconsideration of this decision. Mr Hem me rd made a vigorous attack on the entertainment tax, and said that he regretted no attempt had been made to intercept the profits on the sub-letting of theatres. Ono man had so cornered the theatres that he made a rental profit of £1250 weekly. A group of London theatres had lost £12,000 in 1922, yet they had handed over £197,000 in entertainment tax. Sir R. Horne said that the late Government had reduced the cost of the fighting services by £28,000,000 below the estimated, and by £14,000,000 below the amount suggested by the Geddes Economic Committee. It should now be acknowledged that they had not only made a great effort for economy, but had achieved great results, lie agreed that they should pay off all the debt that they eould, but it would be unwise to fix a rigid amount to be paid each year, without regard to the state of trade and the country's capacity to bear taxation. They eould not extract golden eggs and pate de foie gras from the same goose, even if the goose was a taxpayer. Tin. 1 Chancellor’s remissions this year were 1 ully justified. Personally, he should have gone further, and he thought the Chancellor was making too great provision for debt reduction. Mr Hilton Young said that in the present transitional stage, the working back to prosperity, the Chancellor ought to have reduced taxation to the utmost limit, and postponed debt reduction. Sir K. L. Worthington Evans thought that portion of last year’s heavy surplus ought to have been used for national works, including housing.

CHANCELLOR’S REPLY. LONDON, April IS. Mr S. Baldwin, replying in the debate, claimed that most of the criticisms of his Budget demolished each other. ‘‘Perhaps,” he said, ‘‘J am not far from the happy mean. Some critics say my provision for the sinking fund is too much, and others declare it is too little.” The Dominion debts had been practically settled, d lie Australian and New Zealand debtshad I been funded. Interest on these was j being received regularly, amounting to £6,000,000 yearly. The Canadian debt had practically been settled, and a substantial part of the South African debt had been paid off, and the rest was funded. The Chancellor said Mr Snowden had complained of the heavy tax on liquors as being Hie greatest ally of temperance. If. then, penal taxation were useful, ne wondered why Mr Snowden was going to oppose the tax on betting. A resolution authorising the Finance Bill was agreed to.