Manawatu Evening Standard. TUESDAY, FEB. 23, 1937. INCOME TAX.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 71, 23 February 1937, Page 8

Manawatu Evening Standard. TUESDAY, FEB. 23, 1937. INCOME TAX.

Tiie Government and the taxgatherer are prominently in the minds of those who have to pay income tax, but voicing annoyance and indulging in abuse will not affect the present position. The tax must be paid and it seems a waste of energy to complain individually. A better plan would be to impress upon the Government by means of resolutions at public/ meetings and deputations to Ministers tffe harshness of tlie income tax and the need for some relief. That this course is necessary is emphasised by the belief that during the next session of Parliament, a still further increase will be decided upon, it is quite true tfiat the Labour T’ary gave no pledge that it would not increase taxation, but there was an implied promise that the people would not be further penalised m this respect. Now tne Labour Government has found that to carry out its policy, wnicfi is being ueveloped and enlarged, it must nave money, and money can ue obtained only from tne taxpayers. rue people endorsed so iuucii of tne j.unoui ratty as was Known at tne time oi tne election by entrusting tne Party with tlie government of the country. As a Government the- Labour Party is “puiplementingy its policy, and the majority of the people cannot now reasonably object to that, it would be just as reasonable to object to the rise in wages. In its pre-election programme the Labour Party promised to restore wages to the 1931 level, and it has more than carried out that promise, for it has added the 4Uiiour week benefit to the wage increase. What the Labour Party omitted was to tell the workers that higher wages would result in higher cost of living. The workers are getting more money wages, but the housewives who are responsible for spending the wages now realise that those wages will not go as far as intended, or rather that the increase is more than absorbed in higher prices for goods and services, and in reality they find it much harder to make ends meet now than before the rise in wages. It is proving itself to be a very useful lesson in economics and one not likely to be forgotten. In the opinion of some people we have not seen the end of rising costs. But, if these go much higher there must be a further increase in wages with a further increase in costs and so we will be continuing the vicious circle. All this was pointed out before the election, but the electors preferred to give Labour a trial, and because it is not working out exactly as they fancied is no rea-

son why there should be loud complaints. The taxes must be paid, and we must consider ourselves lucky if there is not a further increase next year. There is every prospect that the , loss on dairy produce will not be less than £1,500,000 and the taxpayers must foot the bill.