TAX INSPECTORS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21297, 26 September 1932, Page 8

TAX INSPECTORS

The decision of the Unemployment Board to appoint a number of inspectors "to conduct investigations) into the affairs of any taxpayer with a view to ascertaining whether all obligations respecting the payment of unemployment taxation have been met," suggests that there is substantial leakage. In view of the check that must be exercised through the Land and Income Tax Department and the system whereby employers deduct the tax from wages, it would appear that a new inspectorate will add to the cost of administering the fund without increasing the revenue to any extent. More officialdom will be created for what may bo a nebulous kind of a task. 3urely the existing machinery of State is capable of detecting evasion. More to the point, in the opinion of the body of the community, would be the appointment of inspectors to prevent the abuse of the Unemployment Fund. Evidence is accumulating on all sides, though it is not always made public, that there are men claiming their socalled rights from the fund who do not need assistance. There seems to be little check upon the supplementary earnings of the registered unemployed, many of whom have other resources, as is made evident by the manner in which they live. Taxation of one shilling in the pound was accepted without much question because the community believed that no less a sum would provide sustenance for the unemployed, but the attitude of mind is changing. Mr. J. Jessep, deputy-chairman of the board, has stated on several occasions that in a number of directions relief rates are "cutting across" normal employment, and this does not make allowance for the supplementary earnings some men make. If the present drift is allowed to continue the country will have to face unemployment taxation as a permanency. New Zealand has always had a large body of men who were casual workers from choice. To-day they are nearly all on relief and will continue to be as long as a fund exists. Personal incentive is not very active. An investigation of the circumstances of the registered unemployed might have a beneficial effect.