INCOME TAXATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20264, 25 May 1929, Page 12

INCOME TAXATION.

ANNUAL TASK FOR PAYERS. LIKE A BLANK CHEQUE. POWERS OF THE GOVERNMENT. The open soasoi. for inc >m<s Lax payors has come round again. Perhaps such a hunting metaphor is hardly fair in Now Zealand, where the taxation officials' task is probably easier than anywhere elso. Occasional Court cases show that there are wilful defaulters, but withal the whole business ot gathering this form of revenue is gone through with very little stir.

In Britain, where the exemption stands, not at £3OO a year, but somewhere down near £l5O, it seems to bo otherwise. During certain months the English journals of humour are always full of jokes at tho expense of a sinister-looking person known as the "inconlo-tux collector," who is generally depicted at tho front door or persuading tho maid to show him into the parlour. Whether through being more punctilious or through having a more tactful income-tax department, the Now Zealand householder, if not the business man, is spared these invasions. All the same, it in not n wholly pleasant business. There is tho usual foolscap form of main pages, printed in blue, to ho filled in before June 1, and despatched "with full postage affixed," to tho commissioner in Wellington. It is small consolation to read from the imprint that 240,000 of this year's forms wore turned out by the Government Printing Office, or to recollect that the commissioner himself has to iill in details of his own income, and sign on tho dotted line. Every body, indeed, has to do it—except tho Governor-General, and even His Excellency's exemption may perhaps cover only his official income.

Somo fortunate people get a little satisfaction out of the task. There is tho man who has had an addition to his family last year. If ho is a proud father and not already overburdened with children, the extra £SO a year concession for tho new arrival seems a little like a baby bonus. Then the man who has just had his life "taken" by an enterprising insurance canvasser finds a little pleasure in claiming ' the premium as a special exemption.

Incidentally, there is one thing on the same page of the form, which many arc believed to overlook. It is an exemption of 5 per cent, on the capital value of the taxpayer's interest in tho land used in the production of his income. This should bulk largo in the tax returns of some people, such as those deriving most of their income from rents.

One consideration ought to give the dutiful taxpayer an uncomfortable feeling. If he only realised it, sending iti the form is very like handing over a blank cheque. In tho interval between June 1 and the end of the year, Parliament is free to alter the rate of income tax as it pleases. It made some changes in 1923, by straightening out an alleged kink i;i the tax curve and putting a heavier 'impost on incomes round about £7OO.

What Parliament is likely to do this year is a matter of political speculation. It would bo vain to search the United Party's platform, the pre-election speeches of its leader, or his utterances as Prime Minister for any clear lead on tho subject. All that Sir Joseph Ward said until lately was that more revenue would have to bo obtained from "certain quarters." In his Motueka speech on Thursday he predicted "an adjustment of taxation" to meet last year's half-million deficit, and a review of tho whole field in order to easo the burden on those who were bearing too much, and vice versa.

Sir Joseph may have had several things in mind—tho much criticised company taxation, farmers' exemption from income tax, land tax graduation, customs duties. Pending more enlightenment, the ordinary income-tax payer can only till in his form and await tho issue.