THE SALES TAX.

Hawera Star, Volume LII, 31 January 1933, Page 4

THE SALES TAX.

The possibility of a sales tax being added to the revenue-producing legislation of the Dominion made its firstclaim upon the attention of the people of Now Zealand only last year, though it has been in operation in many other partis of the world since the conclusion' of the Great War found the nation's faced with the necessity of finding fresh sources of revenue. New Zealand' had a hasty glance at the sales tax possibility on that occasion and decided, practically unanimously, that if did not like it. The Government was obviously not enamoured of the idea at that stage, for, though it had a Bill on the stocks, it gladly withdrew it when it was found possible to devise other means of negotiating the Budget gap. This year, however, the .realisation is growing that a sales tax must be forced on the country. The Government expects' to be faced with a deficiency of £2,400,000 in its accounts and it must get revenue somehow. Income tax is certain to be exploited, but as not even the ever-optimistic Treasury believes that those who pay tax on income can provide sufficient to make good the whole of the deficit, a sales tax appears to be inevitable. Kevenu.e-.production by this form of taxation is looked upon with distaste, and even fear, by many sections i : n New Zealand, but, if ou.r Government is prepared to be guided by the experience of other countries, notably 'Canada, the new tax need not be an,instrument of oppression a,nd confusion. It must, of course, have an unfavourable effect o;ii the cost of living, but it need not, unless Government officials are allowed to place their own interests before the interests of commerce, prove an insufferable nuisance in its administration. This form of taxation is favoured by some because it spreads the burden -equally over the whole of the community and does not, like income and motor .tax, cause certain sections of the people to carry the additional load. On the other hand, it is contended by its opponents that it reacts unfairly, inasmuch as it falls more heavily, proportionately, on- the poor than on the better-off sections of the com'munity. A declaration of the sales 'tax method favoured by the Government—single turnover system or multiple—and the schedule of exemptions is the next information on the subject which will be anxiously awaited.