THE Hauraki Plains Gazette. With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDA! “Public Service" WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 1948 PRICE OF SUGAR

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 57, Issue 3981, 14 April 1948, Page 4

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette. With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDA! “Public Service" WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 1948 PRICE OF SUGAR

The Government is already being commended by its own journals for the decision to meet the increased price of sugar by subsidy. The easing of the housekeeper’s budget, the maintenance of stabilisation, and the reduction in the cost of living, are described as virtues worthy of the highest commendation. This attitude to subsidies is a strange form of political mesmerism ; it refuses to face up to the fact that subsidies must be paid for, that the public eventually have to foot the bill, and that there can never be a reduction in taxation while increased costs are screened by subsidies. For every ton of sugar sold in New Zealand the increased call on the taxpayer will now amount to £4 2s 6d. As the average consumption of refined sugar per head of population is between 90 and 100 lb. a year, it can be seen that the charge on the taxpayer will exceed £300,000 in a full year. In such manner is the Government returning to the wartime system of subsidies to keep down the cost of living. Public opinion may or may not prefer this method of distributing the load, but it should recognise clearly that there will be a reckoning day and that the consumer will have to pay in taxation what he has avoided paying on the grocer’s bill. Political psychology doubtless regards the subsidy as the lesser of the evils, but those who expect a taxation reduction in Mr Nash’s next Budget cannot be blamed for looking askance at an extension of the subsidy - stabilisation policy.