COMPANY TAXATION

Grey River Argus, 17 May 1946, Page 8

COMPANY TAXATION

REDUCTION SAID TO BE NECESSARY. P.A. , ‘AUCKLAND, May. 16. The opinion that the time' had arrived when a radical reduction in company taxation- was required was expressed by Mr. A. T. Donnelly at the annual meeting of New Zealand Newspapers Limited this afternoon. He said the limit in Britain was 10s and in Australia the same. In the latter country, when the Labour Government made an all-round reduction of 12i per cent, in income tax last year, there was strong criticism that it did not extend to company taxation. Here, the taxation was 14s and two-thirds of a penny when the taxable profits exceeded £7.000. While a post-war company and, in some cases, a mushroom company, might make extravagant profits within the Act. as it did not come under the pre-war fixation of a standard income, any old-established company was penalised to a point that either its future development or its shareholders had to be sacrificed. Discussing the newspaper business, Mr. Donnelly said that at one period newsprint supplies' in the Dominion were* at a low ebb, but the position had been redeemed and reasonable reserves were now in the country but, as supplies came almost entirely from the dollar area, there was continued uneasiness as to their maintenance. The newspapers in New Zealand had voluntarily rationed themselves.

There was prospect, of a considerable increase in the size of the daily newspaper, he added.