ESTABLISHED 1866. The Marlborough Express. SATURDAY, AUGUST. 28, 1915. THE WAR BUDGET.

Marlborough Express, Issue 203, 28 August 1915, Page 4

ESTABLISHED 1866. The Marlborough Express. SATURDAY, AUGUST. 28, 1915. THE WAR BUDGET.

The Wair Budget presented by\the Minister for Finance may well ,be described as an historic document. The circumstances under which the Budget is presented, the state of the revenue and expenditure of the Dominion which is disclosed, and the taxation and other financial proposals set forth therein, all contribute to give the Financial Statement of 1915 an importance and interest which no previous Statement could possibly have possessed. Naturally, the attention of the people v/ill first be directed to the extra taxation which Sir Joseph Ward lias deemed it his duty to propose in order to meet the exceptionally heavy expenditure incurred in connection with New Zealand's participation in the loyal and patriotic duty of defending the Empire against the powerful and j ruthless foe which has sworn the ruin •jf Great Britain and her Oversea Dominions That there will ho considerable* diversity of opinion as to the wisdom or ,oth»rwise of certain •<>f the items goes without saying. New taxation is never popular at, any time, and when huge increases are j i made in the fiscal burdens to be j shouldered by the people the voice of j ! the'grumbler and in;ik:o*iient ir.:-iy bo j expected to mako itself heard. On the whole, however, the Minister for Finance may fairly be congratulated nnon proposals the guiding principle of which appears to have been tiv"> decision of the f ramer that those who are .best able Ut pay increased taxation shall first be called upon to do so. Undpr Sir Joseph Ward's Budget the working classes and all whose incomes arc less ihnn £300' a- yearl come off practically unscathed.' 'Wp' mre by no .meinis convinced that it would not have been w'sor and fairer for the income l.i'.x exemption to have been lowered to £200, "as has been (

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done in Australia; but it must be remembered tbii it is upon the earners of £300 and under, the working and middle classes, that the Increased cost »i Jiving has fallen relatively most. heavily, and the freedom now accorded to these classcvs o!; all increases in Cu»stom.s duties on the necessiuies of life and the smaller luxuries in M'hicli they ' may indulge must be reckoned as a sufficient net-off against the rise in. the price of certain commodities in daily use.

With regard to the new taxation, it. falls, as we have said, on the classes best able to bear it. The increase, in the graduated land tax may at first sigl.it anpear jiather heavy; but it affects a class few in, number, and can by no means be considered exces-siS-e in view of die special profits made by this class, owing to the increased dvsmand for and value of the primary'exports. The decision to tax income derived from land as well as the Land it-self is a. new .departure, upon which there will be muck discussion:'but here again the class affected ' has undoubtedly profited by the war;/' It must not be forgotten that the exports for the last year were of an increased value not far- fromlithrefc millions sterling, and the people who shared in this hncre increase, of value cannot reasonably expect' to escape differential treatment. This question of what is at first sight a double tax will no doubt be thrashed out both in Parliament and in the press when the exact working of the new impost ba.s l-een oxphunprl.- in detail by the Minister ' for Finance, and for the time being wo leave it without further comment save, to express the hope that special provision may be made for cases1 in which, if it can be so proved/a combined land .and income tax will cause any serious and un- j justifiable hardship- '^c increase j generally in, the income tax, an increase of 33 per cent., will have to be. acerptHd as. cheerfully and philosophically' as possible. The money had to be found somewhere and somehow, and there-is no fairer way thian by a graduated; income tax. It will get at the extra profits made by merchants, manufacturers, and others as a result of. the war; it will reach. also the often, very substantial increases earned by professional men, and no one in these days of progressive political, thought will, we think; dare to deny,:the ; essential -soundness and justice of ,tho general principle 6f graduation; "'•'."' ij '"; "When we come to certain alterations ~made; in the Customs duties there is' wider.ground for dissension of opinion' as ito whether or not the Treasurer ha,* done: as well as .he might h-ave done. We are somewhat disappointed, .for instance, with the comparatively easy•■-■•? 'letting off. .: ot the great and, wealthy brewing monopoly.' Apparently.only £60,000 additional is to be derived from the alterations made in the beer duties. The liquor trade is practically a monopoly divided among a few enormously wealthy firms,: who, by way of "tied houses, the sums exacted for the "goodwill" of leases «and by other means, "sweat" the licensed victuallers, and indirectly the consumers of alcoholic beverages, most unmercifully. The extra imposts in postage and stamp duties were to be expected, and must not' be grumbled at. The extra halfpenny on all letters and postal packages'save newspapers is an innovation already in force in Canada, and will ''.'hear, mainly on the Wealthy cbm'mbrcial firms whose letters and circulars form so huge a'bulk of the articles sent through the mails. The new stamp >duty, on mortgages is mi impost which already exists in the ■Old Country, and the rise in the tele- [ graphic charges is quite reasonable. It had long been recognised that New Zealand's sixpenny telegram was too i cheap; and in other directions, such as the extra, charge on inland cabies and stamps on cheques and receipts, the Treasurer can scarcely be blamed for ' making use of suoh a simple method of i gaining extra revenue. The railway rates, too, are to be-increased, and i telephone bureau charges augmented. Here again «m, items upon which we may expect tS'Tne'af some complaint; but it will be only temporary, and the extra cost will as a rule fall upon peo^ plo who are- fairly well able to'meetit without ■: vei'y •"serious financial inconvenience. The , totalisator, we are glad to see, is to p*ay an additional tax of 2£ per cent., the estimated additional revenue from this source being put down-at £75,000. Motorcars are now to be subjected' to an ad valorem duty of 10 per cent—no inconsiderable item when, say, a £400 to £500 car is purchased—and,the increase of 4d per gallon on motor spirit will also augment the cost of motoring. As, -however, it is fairly presumable that those-:who .'import and run expensive cars> are '•' in a position to afford such luxuries, there should be no serious objection to the tax, although perhaps', seeing that motorcars are;-nowadays'so widely used by farmers and others for the purposes of their business, the Treasurer might, we think, hare -differentiated' the tax in favor of the lower-priced cars.

As a matter of fact, the new taxation does not affect many luxuries, and Vve are by no means sure that certain costly articles of imported clothing, musical instruments, and jewellery should not- have been subjected to an increase of duty. Another omis- ! sion is the absence of any special tax on the profits/ made by theatrical caterers, proprietors of picture shows, -and others, who come.round the country and take away a large amount of money which, it would be much better for the community were it diverted into other channels. The patrons, too, of picture shows might very well have been asked to'pay a penny tax on every entrance ticket. Such a tax has existed in France for many years past, the proceeds being devoted to meeting charitable aid requirements. Taken as ft whole, however. Sir Joseph Ward's taxation proposals seem to ha,ve been well thought out. That there must have beer, a good deal-of the "give and take" attitude displayed by the Treasurer's colleagues when the proposals weriv put before Cabinet may be easily understood. Had the Budget bo-en purely a Reform Budget the graduated land tax might not have been so heavy, and, on the other hand, had Sir Joseph Ward been Prime- Minister and at the head of a Cabinet formed from, his own party alone, it is safe to say that there would have b^en still heavier taxation on the'sources from which, conae thoso primary products from the 'enhanced v«luo of which certain T>eople have lif>en enabled to reap such large additions to their *>rdinary income. With a National-Cabinet, however, no extremes were possible, and although, ;is wo have said, there may bo adverse criticism of certain items, tho Budget as a whole will urobably secure a general approval from the country.