Borrowed Dollars Running Out On Tobacco

Grey River Argus, 17 April 1947, Page 5

Borrowed Dollars Running Out On Tobacco

(Rec. 7.40) LONDON, April 16. Press comment on the tobacco duties includes that of the Times, which says: The taxes on tobacco and on electrical appliances are punitive ones, but are not unreasonable in relation to their special purposes. The taxpayer could expect little or nothing for the current year, in view of the need to combat the inflation threat: and that is what he got. It it a time for a pedestrian budget, with a modest swing from direct to indirect taxation, and with special emphasis on that consumption requiring dollars, coal or electricity. Though sundry of the lesser items in .the budget may be questionable, the Chancellor has fulfilled the main need.”

The Daily Telegraph says: “This budget is ‘good for gilt-edged,’ although a considerable part of the estimated revenue is non-recurring. Dr Dalton’s decision to budget for £270,000,000 surplus savours of orthodox finance to an extent that few city people expected.” The Daily Mail says: “Nothing that Di' Dalton said in his speech will arouse so much resentful comment as the tobacco duties. They are among the highest impositions in indirect taxation that ever have been levied in this country. We must credit Dr Dalton with considerable courage. This step will be highly unpopular. But smokers must rue-, fully admit that it is sound.” The Daily Express says: “The tobacco tax is a heroic measure. The dollars are running out. Tobacco may be only the first casualty in a long series of human pleasures to be sacrificed for essential food and raw materials. The tobacco tax should not be counted against the Chancellor.”

Dr Dalton, in a BBC broadcast, said that he was giving first place in tax reductions to the incmoe tax payer, and especially to the man with children. He said: “We must take special thought for the salaried people and the wage earners who are bringing up a young family.” He said: “Many people, including Mr Churchill, have said that we are smoking too much. We are spending almost as many dollars on United States tobacco as the United States is spending on all of the British goods she imports. The imports that we' cut down must be those that we need least, and we need food more than tobacco.”