PUBLIC ACCOUNTS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 273, 2 November 1932, Page 8

PUBLIC ACCOUNTS

FIGURES FOR SIX MONTHS REVENUE HOLDING UP. PRIME MINISTER’S HOPES. Wellington, Nov. 1. In reviewing the position of the public accounts for the first half of the current financial ' year the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes) states that there is every indication that the results for the year will be fairly close to the Budget forecasts. Revenue stability is being maintained and expenditure is being kept under close control.

The public accounts for the first half of the financial year, ended September 30, have been made available. Mr Forbes said:—

‘' The revenue for the period amounted to £7,317,231, compared with £7,347,379 received for the corresponding period of last financial year. There was thus a comparative decrease of approximately £30,000. A more important comparison, however, is with the Budget fer the year, and in this respect I am pleased to say that on a proportionate basis the various items of taxation apart from land and income tax, which are not due for payment until later, are generally well up to expectation.

“Customs receipts show an excess of £130,000 with the best importation period still to come, but, against this, allowance has to be made for the loss of £250,000 of revenue arising out of concessions under the Ottawa agreement. “Stamp and death duties are approximately £130,000 behind on a proportionate basis, but this item is normally subject to fluctuations from month to month. MOTOR DUTIES AND LICENSES. “Duties and licenses from motor vehicles are £109,000 ahead, but this is largely due to license fees being payable in the earlier part of the year. Interest receipts from the Railways, Post and Telegraph, Public Debt Redemption Fund, etc., were £250,000 less than for the six months of last year and £390,000 behind on the proportionate part of the Budget estimates, but no significance attaches to this, as the receipts are not spread evenly over the year. There is no reason to believe that the Budget estimates for these items will not be reached. “In regard to ‘other receipts’ (under which are grouped departmental receipts and various miscellaneous items of revenue) the amount credited during the six months apart from Post Office profits, which will come to hand later, is in the total equal to that for the same period of 1931. The position may therefore be regarded as satisfactory. EXPENDITURE SIDE. “On the other side of the account, the expenditure for the six months amounted to £9,534,570, as compared with £11,463,796 for the corresponding period of 1931. There was thus a satisfactory decrease of £1,929,226. Compared with the proportionate part of the estimates for the year the expenditure for the period compares as follows:—

Debt charges were £870,000 below the proportionate part of the estimate, but this is purely nominal, being due to the fact that the amount provided for debt repayments has not yet been utilised. “Under ‘other permanent appropriations’ the expenditure is £148,000 behind tho estimates, but this also is largely due to accounting fluctuations. “Under annual votes the expenditure was approximately £700,000 less than the proportionate part of the estimate, anu even when allowance is made fer outstanding imprests amounting to £634,000, largely representing expenditure incurred but not yet brought to charge, it will be seen that expenditure is being kept within the estimates. BUDGET FORECASTS. “To sum up the whole position, the more stable tendency in revenue is maintained, while expenditure has been kept under close control and continues to reflect the economies made. Tho estimates of both revenue and expenditure submitted in the Budget can therefore be accepted wi‘h confidence, as there is every indication that the results for the year will be fairly closely in accord with the forecasts made in the budget. “I may say, however, that the position with regard to income tax will not be known until towards the close of tho year.”