TAXATION RETURNS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 195, 19 July 1937, Page 9

TAXATION RETURNS

LAST YEAR’S FIGURES. HIGHEST ON RECORD. Figures of revenue from taxation are now available for the year ended March 31, 1937, and compare as follows witli the figures for the preceding financial year:— Revenue for year ended March 31. Head of Revenue. 1936. 1937. £ £

Totals 25,476,372 31,164,302 £ s. d. £ s. d. Taxation receipts per head of mean popti- . „„ lation 16 5 6 19 14 10 Hie taxation receipts for 1937-30 are the highest ever recorded, the figure being nearly £5,700,000 higher than in 1035-30 'which previously held the record, Tho rate per head in 1936-37 displaces the previous record (£l7 14s 4d) established in 1920-21. Part of the increase in the ease of income tax is due to the revised scale of rates, which was planned to produce an extra. £1,000,000 of revenue, in addition to an expected increase ot £500.000 from improved business conditions. Actually income tax receipts increased by £2,000,000. Land tax was expected to yield £1,300,000 ; £BOO,OOO of the £850,000 increase being anticipated from the reintroduction of a graduated scale; hut land tax receipts (£l,0uO.000) fell short of the estimate by £250,000. Tlic amended scales of income tax and land tax represented the oiily increases in imposts, and two-thirds of the total increase of £5,700.000 in taxation receipts is thus due to the general improvement in business. This improvement is particularly reflected in the figures for Customs revenue, sales tax, motor vehicles taxation, and employment promotion taxation, in addition to the income tax receipts. RETURNS OF INCOME. An estimate of the aggregate private income for the year 1935-36 has now been made on the same general lines (mainly from a consideration of the receipts from the employment charge under the Employment Promotion Act) as for previous years, and the figures for the last five years arc published below. For the purpose of the estimates, the aggregate private income is taken to consist of the gross income of persons from wages, salary, pensions, investments, etc., and the net receipts (gross receipts, less expenditure incurred in earning them) of business houses, farmers, professional men, landlords, employers of labour, etc. Capital receipts —e.g., from deceased persons’ estates, repayments of debts, etc. —are excluded. It is probable that the estimate tends to understate the aggregate private income, owing to the inclusion in some cases of domestic expenditure or living costs among expenditure incurred in earning income. No allowance is made on this account in the statistical computation, and the estimates should he regarded as on the conservative side. Th< receipts for any year from the charge on wages relate to wages and salaries of the current year, while those from the charge on other incomes are in respect of incomes during the preceding year. For the 1935-36 computation, therefore, the 1935-36 receipts from the charge on wages and the 1936-37 receipts from that on other incomes are taken. 1933-34. 1 934-35. 1935-36. £m. £m. .Cm.

*4J months. A further substantial increase in a««n-egate private income will he recorded for 1936-37. Receipts from the tax on wages for the year (£2,610.000) show that wages and salaries subject to the charge aggregate £78.3m as compared with £66.2m in 1935-36.

Customs revenue 8,161,161 715,042 9,499,254 841,584 Sales tax Film-hire tax Gold-export dutv lAotor vehicles taxation Death duties Bank composition Duty on instruments • Racin'; taxation Amusements tax Other stamps taxation (receipts tax, impressed stamps, 2,462,602 60,657 106,976 2,124,130 1,615,479 34,389 277,441 378,851 56,507 477,081 3,044.612 72,209 108,798 2.503.111 1,725,135 14,283 347,738 503,655 70,564 499,616 458,873 1,047,877 Income tax 4,581,328 43,823 57 1 3,921,975 6,618,716 41,602 Mileage tax residue... Employment promotion taxation 583 4,224,965

Subject io employmont charge— 61.2 27.4 66.2 36.0 ' Wages Other income ... 57.3 29.0 Wages of poisons under twenty ... — 1.1* 3.0 Wages of exempt. relief workers ... Wages of domestic 2.8 2.5 2.5 0.9 0.8 -ervants 1.0 “Ollier” exempt income of women . “Ollier” exempt in3.1 3.5 3.5 come to Maoris Undistributed com1.0 pnnv income (including income tnx payments) Pensions under Pen3.5 3.5 4.0 1.8 2.0 sions Act "Other” exempt, in1.8 come (including sustenance pay) . 0.5 1.2 2.0 Totals 100.0 103.1 120.0