THE WAR TAX.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 5883, 1 April 1915, Page 9

THE WAR TAX.

Sir, The Hon. Jus. AJlfiri tells :ir that tho Government lias to provide lor war purposes about, £300,000 per month for ■ionic mourns to com o. iyst, us say, to be on toe tale sine, lour null.oas per annum. To meet this contingency, Mr. Harold lSeaucliamp proposes thai a 1 per cent, tax shuu,<! tie placed upon all imports and exports, which tax, lie estimates, will yield £500,000 per annum— than sufficient to pay the war bill for two mouths. It is obvious, therefore, that ii the war bill is to bo met as it should out of taxation, instead of by means of loans, that tax, if the whole revenue required is to be derived from a direct tax upon imports and exports, should average at least 8 per cent, on both exports and imports, or, to bo on the safe side, so us to provide for all contingencies, 10 per cent. Mr. Harold Jfoauchamp seems to contend that the expenses of the war should be paid by means of loans, and the loans repaid over a period of 15 years, out of the 1 per cent, import and export tax, but it is quite obvious that commodities produced 10 or 15 years hence are ol no avail to meet tins requirements of the war, hence the Government must take, for war purposes, by means of taxation, 16 per cent, to 20 per cent, of the necessaries and conveniences of life, which aro in hand or being produced whilo the war is on. Although an 8 per cent, or 10 per cent, tax upon all imports and exports is a good working hypothesis upon which to base a sound system of taxation, nevertheless. I think many articles of export, such as hides, wool, and other raw material that can be worked lip in the Dominion, should be taxed as high as 20 per cent., and a portion of this export tax returned as a bonus to manufacturers within the Dominion. On necessaries of life, that require to be imported the tax could bo reduced to 1 or 2J, per cent. If I had my way, however, I should in addition to the import and export lax, double the death duties on all estates of a value exceeding £5000, exoept. in cases where the deceased person whose estate was liable to taxation had been killed in tho war. 'If we pay for this war as we. go undoubtedly everything will boom when the war is over, but if wo finance by means of loans we will have the greatest slump after the war that has been known in tho history of the Dominion. N- W. LcjrcDttx.