PUBLIC FINANCE

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXVIII, Issue LXXVIII, 13 June 1919, Page 5

PUBLIC FINANCE

REVENUE AND TAXATION

Dealing with figures illustrating the' course of public finance, the chairman of the Bank of New Zealand to-day gave.tabulated statistics which he also summarised, showing that during the last five years there has been an increase in the public revenue of £10,122,711, equal to about 83 per cent, while the expenditure has increased by £6,847,735, equal to about 54 i per cent. The! surpluses during the past four .years aggregated £15,090,514, and this amount, together with, £f49,047 earned over m 3915, and making a grand total of £15,239,561,-is .heing held by the Treasury in Hqiud. form to meet such contingencies as may arise during the next year or two. It is a splendid achievement for a country with such a restricted population to provide so large a revenue as £22,352,372, which, is equal to nearly £22 per capita. The principal source of the increase has been the income tax, while the land tax and death duties have helped, considerably. The customs revenue, which is contributed by all classes of the community, has not increased to any extent, chiefly because of the extraordinary difficulties experienced in importing merchandise. . . During the financial year ended March 31, 1919, the moneyed or capitalistic cla£s, in whir-h are included salaried and professional persons, land-owners, manufacturers, companies, etc., contributed, in income tax alone, £6.219,336 out of a total revenue of £22,352,372, or about 28 per cent. . . Thirty-seven thousand nine hundred and. forty-nine persons and companies and deceased estates paid about 28 per cent of the revenue, leaving 72 per cent to be paid by the great majority of the people. If the figures could be more closely analysed, the same small number of people would be found to contribute largely to the customs and stamp duties, postal and telegraph revenue. et«. A demand for the revision of tlie income tax, in the direction of alleviating the burden, is bound to arise, for the tax is pressing heavily on. some people. It is to be hoped that the Government will be in a position to reduce, if not altogether abolish, the special war tax imposed in 1917, and it is reasonable to assume that this relief would be made good by an increase in customs revenue when conditions become oncfe more normal. It would be useless to expect that the Treasury can manage with a much smaller revenue than that collected in the past year, but there is nothing to prevent the incidence of taxation being adjusted and made more equitable. The Government must obtain a relatively large revenue, because the fixed charges have grown through the stress of war. Thus a very large sum has to be paid annually for interest and sinking fund owing to the debt of the country having expanded, and there is the growing pension bill to be met.