BRITISH BUDGET BEFORE COMMONS

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6887, 17 April 1929, Page 7

BRITISH BUDGET BEFORE COMMONS

Loss of Liquor Revenue ENORMOUS TRADE INCREASE BETTING TAX MORE TROUBLE THAN WORTH. British Official Wireless. RUGBY, April 15. Mr. Winston Churchill, Chancellor eft the Exchequer, introduced his Budget to-day in a crowded House of Commons. With regard to revenue, Mr. Churchill stated that last year customs and excise showed a deficiency which was almost entirely accounted for by beer alone. Beer showed a fall of £7,350,000. That was an Exchequer embarrassment, but it was not a national misfortune. A steady decline in the consumption of alcoholic liquor throughout the land was due to a change in tho national habits and the growth of alternative beverages. After making full allowance for the trade conditions, ho could not estimate for more than £79,000,000 in beer revenue this year. He estimated this year £239,500,000 in income tax and £31,000,000 in death duties. Owing to the continued activity on the Stock Exchange and the flotation of new companies, stamps had yielded £2,000,000 above the estimate last year, and he estimated a further growth this year, bringing tho total to £31,000,000.

Mr. Churchill estimated to receive this year £1,700,000 from excess profits duty and .corporation profits tax, and £58,000,000 from super tak. The total receipts from taxes he estimated at £674,650,000. From tioniaxed revenue ho expected to receive £79,290,000, making the total ordinary revenue £753,940,000. The’ ordinary expenditure was estimated at £741,964,000, so that ho anticipated a surplus of £11,976,000. No Fresh Taxation. No new taxes would be imposed this year. On the other hand, Mr. Churchill stated that the tea duty would be immediately removed, the cost being £6,000,000. One tax for which he had been responsible was the betting tax. It had been more trouble than it was worth. The tax on the bookmaker’s turnover would bo immediately repealed. 1 The bookmaker in future would pay £lO per year for a certificate and, in addition, he would pay a licenso duty of £4O for every telephone installed in his office. A half per cent, would be levied also on the taking of the totalisator, which ho had been led to believe would be a fair equivalent to a license duty on bookmakers. The yield on these levies would be £850,000 in the current year and £900,000 in the full year. There would be 25 per cent reduction in licenses for the retail sale of beer and spirits, in view of the curtailment of the hours of sale since the war. This would cost nearly £2,000,000 in the full year! Harbour dues would be reduced. 'Despite the abovementioned concessions. Mr. Churchill estimated the Budget surplus at £4,095,000. Reviewing the financial position, Mr. Churchill stated that the period of the government’s term of office was chequered. There was tho industrial disaster of 1926, but after two years of quiet there had been a sensible improvement in the situation. The savings of the smallest class of investors had increased while the government had been in power by £170,000,000. The cost of living had declined at least 18 points. More Wealthy Community.

A symptom on which he dwelt with more confidence than on any other, as indicating the general condition of the masses of the people, was the increased consumption of tea and sugar. Before the Great War the British people consumed annually 6.55 pounds of tea and 81 pounds of sugar per head. Last year they consumed 9.15 pounds of tea and 90 pounds of sugar. That was a record consumption of those commolities. Tho export trade had risen from £86,000,000 in 1924, to £149,000,000 in 1928. j New capital issues from homo investments in 1928 showed a growth of about £100,000,000 over 1924. Whatever might be the future of particular industries or particular localities, we were undoubtedly dwelling to-day in a more powerful, more weathy, more securely-founded community than five years ago. We were steadily improving our conditions and. compared with most European countries, maintaining our pre-war level. In speaking of tho gold standard and the cost of living, Mr. Cturchill admitted that the gold standard carried with it privations as well as reward, and his hope and faith was.that the privations were minor and temporary, and that the reward would be major and permanent-producing industries. Trade had derived a lasting benefit from the resumption of the gold standard. Mr. Churchill referred to the benefits it conferred on the overseas trade. , ,• „ , Despite the sacrifices made by Great Britain during the war, she had regained her international pre-eminence. We were still the greatest international market, and we had been able to maintain money rates lower . than those which normally prevailed ip New \ork, while bills of exchange on London, which after tho war were so seriously menaced, had, in tho last few yeprs, regained their time-honoured position

as the favourite international instrument and token of commerce. There had been a decline in the cost of living as a result of our allegiance to sound money. Elizabethan Tea Tax Remitted ■ Received Wednesday, 2 a.m. LONDON, April 16. _ When Mr Churchill introduced his budget there was a crowded house, including the Prince of Wales, who from the Peers ’gallery, listened to Churchill with interest, but the general verdict is that it is easily tho dullest of Mr. Churchill’s Budgets. The Chancellor of tho Exchequer cleverly wound his way through a maze of statistics, producing an impression in his defence of tho Goverment s financial policy since 1924, but artistry or oratory were less conspicuous than in his previous Budget efforts. Only when tho Chancellor approached his final announcement of taxation changes did the audience sit up quickly. It is evident the only substantial change is the abolition of tho tea duty. This tax has been in existence since tho times of Queen Bess and has been as much as half a crown and. even five .shillings a pound, so .there is general satisfaction at its end. The fact that it has been entirely removed and the remission is not confined to Empire tea is also welcomed ,as it will mean the removal of irritating customs restrictions. There is no likelihood, however, of the abolition changing the price of a cup of tea in the teashops. Expedited relief for agricultural, to cost 2\ millions, pleased the farmer Commoners. Motorists complain of the absence of any substantial reduction in the taxation of motor vehicles, particularly as the vast majority of motor owners are persons of moderate means. Racing men admit that the tax of half per cent, on the takings of the totalisator is less than they anticipated At least one per cent, was expected. Apparently Mr. Churchill is desirous to make totalisator betting as popular and as cheap as possible.