GOVERNMENT PRINTING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21913, 24 September 1934, Page 12

GOVERNMENT PRINTING

Sir, —I note by your issue of Friday that the president of the Auckland; Chamber of Commerce, Mr. A. Gy Lunn, wrote to the Prime Minister in.| reference to Government printery com-; petition in what has hitherto b£en a; field for private enterprise, pertinently i pointing out that the private trader j has many forms of taxation to pay;; from which the State institution .'Si exempt. I would like to add something] to Mr. Lunn's statements. In his pre-j vious reply, as summarised by thej Herald, the Prime Minister statedj that thero would be no unfair competi* t tion. It is a mystery to mo how thatj condition can bo arrived at, but per-; haps some reader will enlighten my obfuscated intellect. If the department'* charges, quality for quality, are below those of private market competition, or course there will be injustice, and this the Prime Minister frankly admits*; in effect. But if the State charges for printing aro equal to those of private enterprise, it still means that the State will be using tax-free and rates-frea State buildings and printing plant, paid for out of the taxpayers' money, to supply printing to -other State institutions, the buildings and staffs o'j which are also paid for out of the tax-j payers' money. The taxpayers are taxedj to provido a plant and buildings to compete with a considerable section or, their number, and taxed again to pro-j vide schools and colleges; that is, theyj are taxed to provide the competing printing buildings, plant and staff, andi taxed again to provide the customer# for that competing State institution* Under present conditions tho Government has no more than about 2 per cent of revenue (land tax on unimproved values, or on any other natural resources in their "state of nature value) which is not extracted in soma form or other from tho pockets of tha taxpayers, and while the 2 per cent of the total collection is really an economic rent, and not a burden upon industry, the other 98 per cent certainly is. Just how any State department, therefore, can enter the field of legitimate private enterprise without "unfair competition" is beyond my mental capacity to fathom. T. E. McMillanMatamata.