DOMINION'S FINANCES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21763, 31 March 1934, Page 10

DOMINION'S FINANCES

THE PUBLIC ACCOUNTS TAXATION RETURNS HIGH DEFICIT MUCH LOWER [BY TELEGRAPH—PRESS ASSOCIATION] CHRISTCHURCH, Friday The financial year for the public accounts ends on March 131, and in response to an inquiry as to the outcome of the Budget for the year, the Minister of Finance, the lit. Hon. J. G. Coates, stated that until tho revenue and expenditure transactions were cleared through tho Treasury, which would take another two or three weeks, he was not in a position to make any preliminary announcement of tho result. Tho Minister stated that the principal items of taxation had exceeded the Budget estimates, and that on the other hand the expenditure for the year had been held within the estimates, in fact, it was anticipated that there would bo some saving on the expenditure side. When the Budget was brought down it was estimated that there Would be a deficit of £2,094,000, but as a result of the improvement that had taken place, which could be taken as an indication of the improvement in economic conditions generally, the outcome was better than was anticipated. It was evident that the deficit for the year would be substantially less than the Budget forecast.