LARGE INCOMES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22346, 18 February 1936, Page 7

LARGE INCOMES

OVER £IO,OOO A YEAR WEALTH IN NEW ZEALAND WHAT STATISTICS REVEAL Tables of incomes for the year 1934-85, as returned for tax purposes, are given in the latest Abstract of Statistics. They provide an interesting cross-section of that part of New Zealand's population which comes within the income-tax category. It is shown, that seven individuals enjoy incomes of between £IO,OOO and £30,000 a year, and 30 have incomes of between £6OOO and £IO,OOO annually. However, as the returns relate to only 120,684 individuals out of a population of over 1,500,000, they do not provide an index to the incomes of more than a fraction of the people. ■' The following table gives the respective numbers of returns made by individuals and companies at various income levels:— Individuals CornReturns Taxpayers panies Under £2OO 4.769 4,769 1,623 £'2oo £3OO 6fi,C4B 13,191 259 300— 400 23,687 15,869 275 400— 500 9,842 9,298 183 500— 600 5.176 5,089 159 600— 700 2,911 2.886 115 700— 800 1,759 1,738 77 800— 900 1,183 1,168 79 900-- 1,000 901 891 73 1,000 2,000 2.964 2,936 395 2.000 3,000 546 542 155 3,000 4,000 " 153 152 94 4,000 5,000 83 81 51 5,000 6,000 25 25 37 6.000 7.000 13 13 13 7,000 8,000 6 -6 16 8,000 — 9.000 5 6 14 9,000 10.000 6 6 18 10,000— 30.000 7 1 10,000— 20,000 20,000 30.000 30.000 40,000 40,000 50.000 50,000-100,000 - 100,000 and over Totals .. 120.864 53,972 3,811 The column headed "Taxpayers" indicates the numbers of individuals in each grade who were found liable for income tax after the various exemptions had been allowed. One rather remarkable feature is the large number of incomes, 2964, between £IOOO and £2OOO. This is more than three times the number between £9OO and £IOOO. A possible explanation is that £IOOO a year is a pous| v . of demarkation between the higherpaid wage-earners and the owners of what might be termed substantial businesses in trade and industry, either personal or incorporated. Another probability is that the £IOOO-£2OOO class includes a number' of the more prosperous professional men. The large proportion of companies with incomes under which totalled 1623, indicates the New Zealand habit of incorporating small businesses or forming companies to undertake minor enterprises in industry and trade. The number of companies, 395, with incomes between £IOOO and £2OOO possibly bears a relation to the number of personal incomes between those limits. The following table shows the total assessable income of and total tax assessed. for certain significant, classes of individuals: — Assessable. Tax Income Assessed Under £2OO .. .. £284.148 £13.288 £2oo £3OO .. 16,185.695 26,876 300— 400 .. .. 8,061,567 65,381 400— 500 .. .. 4,352,889 76,440 900— 1,000 .. .. 852,283 00,518 1.000 2,000 .. .. 3,946,034 892.651 2,000 3,000 1,309,878 200,626 3,000 — 4,000 .. .. 524,512 9,000—10,000 .. .. 56,965 16.J64 10,000—30,000 .. .. 101,507 26,002 The total assessable income of in- ' dividuals was £43,333,819 and the tax assessed was £1,443,132. Of the latter amount, £782,180, or a little more than half, was levied on incomes between £IOOO and £SOOO. , The total assessable income of companies was £9,518,369, and the .tax assessed was the relatively large sum of £2,175,069.