WAGES AND INCOME

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 75, 10 March 1933, Page 8

WAGES AND INCOME

EARNINGS *IN DOMINION TOTAL ABOUT £100,000,000. BASIS FOR ESTIMATE. The introduction of the wages tax in New Zealand and the fact that the yield from hundreds of thousands of wage-earners presents material for an extensive survey of individual wealth has enabled the Government Statistician to estimate annual private income in New Zealand at £100,000,000. The estimate is put forwaoal with the explanation that it is not claimed to be more than a fairly rough approximation. The survey shows that wages and salaries apart from the exempt earnings of relief workers and domestic servants provide about £60,500,000 of the total private income. Income other than wages and salaries which is subject to the emergency charge accounts for £25,500,000. METHOD OF COMPUTING. The Government Statistician’s method of using the unemployment taxes in computing aggregate private income in the Dominion is the subject of a review in the latest issue of the Abstract of Statistics. It is stated that the figures for 1931-32 do no permit of such close estimation as will be possible in future years. The difficulties associated with the first year’s operation of the emergency taxes are mentioned as obstacles to a very accurate calculation. The charge on wages was only in operation during the last eight months of the year under review, and in this period £490,000 was collected in wages tax. After making allowances for a time lag in payment the total wages bill for 12 months is put down at approximately £60,000,000. Income other than wages up to March 31, 1932, yielded £220.000 in emergency tax. Allowance has been made in the calculations for the fall in income due to the Arbitration Court’s general order for the 10 per cent. cut. Since this covered only 10 months of the year an adjustment had to be made in arriving at an estimate covering the full year. INCOME FROM WOMEN. The Government Statistician says that it proved difficult to assess income other than from wages for women in receipt of less than £250 from all sources. The estimate of private wealth, based on the probate system, shows that women own one-fourth of the total private wealth of the Dominion. Much of this is revenue producing (either from bus'ness or investment), but the difficult., is to estimate the amount of such revenue and to apportion it between women in receipt of more and less, respectively, than £250 per anuum from all sources. The review adds; “All that can bo done at present is to make an arbitrary assessment tor non-Maori women in receipt of under £250, and the amount has been tentatively placed at £5,000,000, thus bringing the incomes of individuals other than Maoris up to £30,500,000.

“In the case of Maoris, a basis of calculation iies in the fact that the Maori population is nearly c per cent, of the non-Maori. But it is probable that the revenue-producing wealth of Maoris is proport ioi itely less than that of Europeans, and 3) per cent, seems a fair allowance, income of Maoris other than from wages being thus estimated at £1,000,000. COMPANY INCOME.

“Company income assessable for income tax was returned at £10,000,000 tor the year 1930-31, and a 15 per cent, reduction on this would indicate £8,500,000 for 1931-32. Of this, approximately £2,000,000 would be paid in income tax, and would thus not be included m incomes paying the emergency charge. Probably, however, the .rnlk of the remaining £6,500,000 would be distributed, and it seems proper to assume that payments to reserves, etc., would be only £1,000,000, which with the £2,000,600 paid in income tax would bring undistributed company income to £3,000,000.” Details of the calculation showing how the aggregate of £100,000,000 is made up are as follow;— £ Subject to emergency charge— Wages 60,500,900 Other income 25,500,000 Wages of exempt relief workers 2,000,000 Wages of domestic servants ... 1,000,000 “Other” incomes of women under £250 5,000,000 “Other” incomes of Maoris 1,000.000 Undistributed company income 3.000.C00 Pensions under Pensions Act ... 1,700,000 Other exempt income 300,000 £100,000,000