LICENSED TRADE

Northern Advocate, 14 July 1933, Page 3

LICENSED TRADE

OVER-TAXATION ALLEGED. DROP IN CONSUMPTION. BURDEN DISPROPORTIONATE. (Per Press Association.—Copyright.) WELLINGTON, Thursday. The general position of the licensed trade of New Zealand was placed bo fore the Tariff Commission yesterday, with a view to a reduction in excise and customs duties.

It was contended that the progressive increase in duties and the corse quent fall in consumption and a drop in revenue might be taken as a classic example of diminishing returns due to over-taxation. The trade, it was stated, produced one-fifth of the total customs and excise revenue, and had been called upon to carry a disproportionate load.

Mr P. Coyle, general secretary of the National Council of the Licensed Trad, of New Zealand, said that the main ground for reduction lay in the fact that the last increase in taxation had meant not an increase in revenue, but a loss. The decline was so marked that it could not be accounted for by d? pression influences, and in the case or spirits, the 1931 increased tax, imposed as a Budget-balancing device, dragged the revenue down to the lowest figures for ten vears.

The beer returns showed a slight rise in revenue, but the consumption drop was a record and was still unchecked, and/the revenue would inevitably follow it unless the excise was lowere.d. A comparison with Great Britain, whose legislation New Zealand had followed showed the same diminution in returns due to high taxation. Big • Contributor. Mr Coyle submitted that the trade ■deserved consideration as a contributor to the national income of from £1,000,000 to £2,000,000 annually. lie contended that it was fallacious to regard the licensed trade . from the revenue viewpoint alone, for it kept an army of men and millions of capital in employment.

The sum of £500,000 was paid annually in wages by brewers alone. Mr Coyle urged the commission to take no account of the vexed question of the morality or otherwise of selling and consuming' liquor. This had been answered conclusively bv the country jn 1928. An additional setback to the licensed trade had been caused by high taxation. The home brewing of ale had received a great impetus on account of its cheapness. The State obtained little or no revenue from this source, and the t’-ade, which was expected to produce revenue, competed with an untaxed product.