WEIGHT OF TAXATION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 24 June 1937, Page 3

WEIGHT OF TAXATION

GREATER THAN BRITAIN’S NEW ZEALAND BURDEN The contention that the weight of taxation in New Zealand, heavy as it is, is still not as severe as in the United Kingdom, is dispelled by information which is now available from London (says a statement by the Associated Chambers of Commerce of New Zealand). Figures which have been forwarded at our request by the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of tho British Empire show tlm comparative position to be as follows; TAXES PER HEAD, 1936 37 Australia U.K. N.Z. £l6 6 H* £l6 12 6 £l9 15 2 •^Estimated. Taxation in New Zealand' was therefore .greater than that in the. United Kingdom., by £3 2s 8d a head, or 15.85 per cent. Proportionate to tho population, New Zealand taxpayers paid £4,942,000 more in taxes to Government in 1936 37 than did the United Kingdom taxpayers. ’ Not only the personal and household budgets of the small, individual taxpayer, but also the employment qf capital o l a larger scale, are adversely affected by high tax rates. Some pertinent comments on tax policy and capital accumulation were made recently by the chairman of the Chase National Bank, New York, Re said: “It seems clear to me that we have gone much too far in tax rates in the higher braokets, from the standpoint pf industry and the growth of capital In the country, Men of large and substantial fortunes are men who can afford to take risks which men with modest fortunes cannot take in the financing of new inventions and the development of new industries. The small investor, unable to diversify adequately, musi piny safe,’ and should buy only seasoned securities. There is to-day a great scarcity of venturesome capital,’and we should riiodify our tax system to the extent that it is necessary to permit capital to become venturesome again. The general theory of those .who wish, by in, creasing the volume of money and credit, and intensifying their velocity, to bring about prosperity, requires that these things should be curbed when the pace gets too fast."

EFFECT ON LIVING COSTS The pace is becoming fast when New Zealand taxation a head can overshadow that of the United Kingdom, which , has always been regarded as a heavily-taxed country, Ihe New Zealand taxpayer has become distinctly “tax-conscious” of late —with good, reason—and he is beginning to realise that, ijr addition to his heavy direct taxes, he is paying invisible indirect taxes which are written into the goods and services that he buys, and which are largely responsible for the high and increasing cost 'of living.