INCOME TAXATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19959, 30 May 1928, Page 12

INCOME TAXATION.

RETURNS DUE ON FRIDAY. THE ANNUAL ARGUMENT. ■ Income-tax returns must be in the hands of the Commissioner of Taxes by June 1, the period covered being the year ended on March 31. The preparation of a return is not a task for which anyone has much enthusiasm. The only enthusiasm that can be developed is in thinking out claims for deductions and special exemptions, but the form sets out the narrow bounds of these things beyond all shadow of doubt, and the best thing the taxpayer can do is to face the job and get it over, deriving what pleasure he can from the knowledge that payment is a good many months away. It is about the only occasion when a man takes no pleasure in recording a rise in profits or salary, for there is the tax penalty to be considered, and he can easily marshal arguments against the iniquity of a system that does not meet special circumstances. A family man, for instance, may have had to pay all the year's savings in medical expenses, but there is no deduction for them. Ex? cept in large businesses, where the preparation of the return is a matter of routine or is handed to an expert, the filling of the form which, to ordinary eyes is a puzzling maze, is one of the sharpest lessons in civic discipline. It is also an occasion when most men form resolutions to live more frugally—resolutions which may last for several weeks.

"There's nothing very fair about this income-tax business," said a man to a fr't-Mid who surprised him while wrestling with the form.

"Whoever dreamed there was?" was the reply.