Manawatu Evening Standard. MONDAY, JANUARY 31, 1921. TAXING THE PRODUCER.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 245, 31 January 1921, Page 4

Manawatu Evening Standard. MONDAY, JANUARY 31, 1921. TAXING THE PRODUCER.

In his very instructive paper on Agriculture,- read at the Science Congress Inst week, Sir James Wilson referred to i he,, advice v so frequently preferred to the farmers of this country to increase production and whimsically remarked that, while that advice was given on all hands,’ and the farmers were not shown how to make that increase, wherever they wore successful in doing so the Government “ promptly increased taxation on the increase,” and the hankers raised the bank rate of interest. There, is enough truth in both statements' to justify a closer investigation into the. facts. The country is being taxed on a scale of such magnitude as to place all previous taxation records entirely in the shade, -and there is no getting away from the fact that the producer, with the mercantile community, is bearing the brunt of the increased taxation, pot merely in direct, but also in indirect taxation. As land values go up, he pays more in land tax and where formerly .as a payor of land tax he escaped income taxation, he now is heavily mulcted in both land and income taxes. It is true that, under the amendments to he Land and Income Tax made last session, the small farmer receives more liberal exemptions than formerly, but the scale of taxation adopted hits the producer very severely, and, in addition, labour is more costly, loss reliable, and takes greater toll of It is produce, in the shape of increased wages. His expenses mount up and increased freights and shipping charges eat into his profits while taxation of his unrealised profits (the taxation officers treating as “ income,” increased stock values, etc.), tends to embarrass him in his operations. It is to his advantage to produce more, if he can do so profitably, but while labour is scarce and to an extent unreliable, and ho leols that his profits are being wiped out by excessive labour costs and more or less arbitrary taxation, he is not likely to increase his operations very materially, and most certainly he is not going to add to the natural risks attaching to his operations, by employing more labour than is actually necessary, in view of its somewhat unreliable character. The natural tendency is to adopt the line of least resistance when things arc not going too well, and, in spite of all that lias been said and written concerning the huge profits the producers are supposed to have made during the last few years, it has to bo recognised that many of thorn are now .feeling the pinch arising out of the financial stringency, and that they are carrying a load of taxation which should be lightened by the State at the earliest possible moment, the merchant and trader and business men generally arc very .much in the same position, and relief measures are urgently required if private enterprise is not to undergo severe restrictions, thereby retarding industrial activity and employment. The farmer has to accept all‘the; risks of unpropitious seasons, to work long hours— from early morn ,to dewy eve —while those who serve him, or are supposed to do so, are continually demanding shorter hours of work, higher rates of pay and more frequent holidays than the farmer is-himself able to afford. And so the thing goes on, until many men, wearying ol the position, tluow the business up and sell out to someone with greater faith in the future of farming operations, which aro dependent upon labour other than that of themselves and their families.