PARLIAMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20646, 19 August 1930, Page 13

PARLIAMENT.

SOUKCES 0F REVENUE. : FINANCE BILL DEBATE. VIGOROUS OPPOSITION ■ PETROL TAX PROCEEDS. U0 LABOUR ENTHUSIASM. / / , ffll TF.LEGn ATII. —SPECIAL REPORTER.] 1 WELLINGTON. Monday. Tl irrP principal measures arc designed /to givo the Government its taxation revenue for tho year. Tho first of these, ... t]lfl Customs Bill, has already boon passed, and the the Financo Bill, was debated in the House of Representatives to-dav, leaving only tho Land and Income Bill to complete tho trio of revenue raising bills. Tho Finance Bill whs introduced and read a first time week, and to-day's" debate was on the second reading stage. The provisions of the Financo Bill arc 7 'expected to yield £447,000, and tho Primo Minister, the Hon. G. W. Forbes, in moving the second' reading, contented himself with a detailed examination of the clauses of the bill. The Leader of the Opposition, tho Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, in a vigorous speech, accused the Government of breaking an honourable agreement in its proposal for / altering the basis of financing main highways. It was an attempt of repudiation which Mr. Coates believed should first need tho confirmation of tho electors. Reply to Arguments. The Government's reply came from the Minister of Lands, the Hon. E. A. Ransom, who is quite tho keenest debater in th* Government ranks. Mr. Ransom de- / clarcd that tho Govornmcnt could not bo bound by any Agreement savo those expressed in legislation. He argued that in freeing the Consolidated Fund from the responsibility of contributing to the revenue of tho Highways Board, the Government was taking a step that should have been made years ago. In the absenco of tho Leader of the Labour Party, Mr. H. E. Holland, tho views of the cross-benchers were put by Mr. M. J. Savage, the deputy-Leader, who said he could nob see anything in Mr. Coates' charge that an honourable agreeI ment was being broken by the Government. He did not think one Parliament could bind another. At tho same time, he could not see much in tho bill as a whole to enthuse about. Repairing Earthquake Damage. Mr. D. G. Sullivan, one of the Labour whips, was more definitely critical on one * point. He charged the Government with using the South Island's share of the highways money for restoring tho country damaged by last year's earthquake and 'claimed it was unjust to penalise southern motorists for what was an " act of God." The debate was still in progress at a , late. hour. It is expected that the com- / mitiec stage will bo taken to-morrow. The Prime Minister intimated to-day that the promised statement on the estimated expenditure and revenue in connection with railway construction works now in hand would bo laid on the tabic either to-morrow or the next day. TOTALISATOR LEVY. i ATTITUDE OF RACEGOERS. CONFIDENCE OF MR. FORBES. [BY TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL REPORTER.] , WELLINGTON, Monday. Faith in the desire of the racing community to bear a heavier portion of laxaj tion was expressed by the Primo Miiiis- ' ter, the Hon. G. W. Forbes, when referring in the House to-day to the proposal under the Finance Bill to increase the totalisator duty by per cent. Mr. Forbes admitted that ho had recently attended a race meeting and had mingled with/the investors with a view to ascertaining their opinions on the proposal. He considered that form oi securing revenuo was quite fair. After all, the clubs were not the ones to pay I the tax, but/ the people who put their money thrpugh the totalisator, and ho felt that they would be willing to do I heir bit toward assisting the country in such a difficult time. Racecourse investors had assured him that they would assist the Government quite cheerfully in the difficult position in which it found itself. A Member: Perhaps they had just collected a dividend. The Prime Minister said tho question had arisen whether fhe new tax would affect investments. That, after all, was only a matter of opinion, for there was no reliable guido whether that would occur or not. In his opinion, any man who placed a pound on tho totalisator was glad to /get even a part of it back and he considered that as these people betted purely as a luxury tho totalisator tax was perfectly reasonable as a form of raising/ revenue. Mr. F. Waile (Reform—Clutha) : Don't you think the result you suggest might he reflected over all taxation ? The. Prime Minister said it had to bo admitted that there had been a fall in totalisator investments, but it was an open question whether tho coining year would result in little increase from the fax as a result of smaller totalisator receipts. The estimate of .£IOO,OOO from that source ,was perhaps a little oplirnis- ' tic. Referring to the question later, the Leader of the Opposition, the Rt. Hon. •T. G. Coates, predicted the result would he to drive money to the bookmakers. FINANCE BILL REVENUE. SUM OF £447,000 THIS YEAR. YIELD OF NEW TAXES. [KV TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL REPORTCIt. ] \Y KLU.\'<;TON, Momlay. The taxation and other proposals in the Finance! fiill are estimated to yield £447.000 this year, according to a statement made by the Prime Minister, the Hon. G. W. Forbes, in moving the second leading of the bill in the House to-day. The revenue expected from the various items was set out by Mr. Forbes as follows: Stamp duties, £41,000; bank nole duly, £50,000; totalisator duty, £100,000; death "Mil gilt duties, £45,000; amusement tax, £70,000; film hire lax, £50,000; sharebrokciV licences, £1000; land assurance fund, £00,000; interest on reparations, £30,000; total, £447.000. Mr. D. /Jones (Reform —Mid-Canter-bury) ; Is ||iat for a full year or tho balance of the year? Mr. Forbes: The balance of the year. Mr. A. Hamilton (Reform —Wallace): •And that is apart from the provision for main highways'! Mr. Forbes; Of course. That will be ■ paid direct to the local bodies and to the Highways Board.