THE WORKERS AND TAXATION

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8142, 16 November 1905, Page 4

THE WORKERS AND TAXATION

The growth of our national indebted/ ness under the " self-reliant non-bor-rowing policy " with which the present Administration came into'office is shown in the above article. It is interesting to note that" in May last the Trades and Labour Council's Conference passed a resolution urging the Government to adopt the very policy which was supposed to be its watchword. Clearly the working man is under no misapprehension as to the result of a course that the Government, in defiance of its .own principles, has steadfastly pursued. He knows what effect the Government's extravagance has had upon his pocket, and naturally he fears that worse may come. The worst feature of the business is that much of the taxation of which the working man has to pay his full share is quite unnecessary. Mr Seddon is our authority for this assertion, for in his latest. Budget he announced a surplus of three-quarters of a million, as if it were something to be proud of, but as the statement proves that he has overtaxed the people to that extent he has little cause for elation. An English Chancellor of the Exchequer \rith a large surplus would reduce the burden of taxation, or perhaps, if the surplus was a large one, would use some of it to pay off a portion of the national debt. This is not Mr Seddon's way. He regards a buoyant revenue as an excuse for an increased expenditure on works -rrhich, in most cases, aro largely intended as bribes for favoured constituencies. Of course we are aware that Mr Seddon has promised a reduction of taxation .on the necessaries of life, but that is an electioneering dodge, because if Mr Seddon was honest in the matter and his previous huge surpluses were not mythical the reduction would have been effected long ago. Mr Seddon's idea of. finance is first to overtax the general ratepayer and then to distribute the surplus in quarters where it may produce most votes. The result is that jN Tew Zealand is, with one exception, the most heavily-taxed colony in Aus- ! tralasia, and in the most prosperous times that the colony has ever experienced our debt has increased more rapidly than in any previous period of our history. This is the price the1 -working man and every other taxpayer in New Zealand has to pay for the privilege of being ruled by Mr Seddon.