THE BUDGET

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22401, 23 April 1936, Page 11

THE BUDGET

BRITISH FIGURES / SURPLUS FOR YEAR TOTAL OF £2,91.1,000 COMING EXPENDITURE DEFICIT ANTICIPATED By Telegraph—Press A ssociaiion—OopyriKht (■Received April 22, 5.5 p.m.) British Wireless T?UGBY, April 21 The Budget was presented to-day in the House of Commons by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Neville Chamberlain. In a speech which lasted 87 minutes he reviewed the results of the last financial year, which showed, he claimed, remarkable buoyancy in revenue. a The Chancellor estimated the total expenditure for the present year, including £25,600,000 for supplementary estimates, at £797,577,000, and announced proposals for obtaining new revenue. In a review of the past year, tho Chancellor commented that, in spite of supplementary votes of nearly £22.000.000 in plac-3 of £IOO.OOO for which he had allowed, they had finished the year with a true surplus. The final after allowing for the amount available, with the fixed debt charge, for debt redemption, was £2,941,000. This was a really wenderful demonstration of the buoyancy of the revenue. On the revenue side, customs and excise had yielded £303,342,000. That was an excess over the estimate of £8,500,000, and over the previous year's yield of £13,750,000. Inland revenue had yielded £404.890,000, or £13,500,000 more than the estimate. Substantial Reduction of Debt

Death duties had yielded £88,000,000, the highest ever obtained from that source, y A large amount was to be ascribed not to exceptional receipts from large estate!!, but rather to a general rise in capital vaiues, which itself was the result of the growth of confidence.

Regarding the national debt, Mr. Chamberlain said that, taking all factors into account, it showed a reduction during the year of £4,500,000, and floating debt was reduced by £51,250,000. The Exchange Equalisation Account continued to show a profit. Turning to the new financial year, the Chancellor said the fixed debt charge had remained during the last three years at £224.000,000, during which period he had been able, out of savings / within that charge, to make available for debt.reduction £32,500,000. Much as he would like to increase the provision for redemption of debt, he did not feel justified in doing so. The estimates for the supply services, already published, provided £378,746,000 for civil departments and £158,251,000 for the defence services, a total of £536,997,000. Current Year Expenditure £797,897,000 Mr. Chamberlain announced that he had decided to set aside a margin for supplementary estimates for the defenco services of £20,000,900, and for a grant to public assistance of £5,600,000. He was still unable to add to his statement Before the recess that another £10,000,000 would be required for the Royal Air Force, or to state what would be wanted for tho Army and Navy, though together the latter two probably would need rather more than the sura allotted to the Air Force.-

This'* provision for supplementary estimates brought the total for the supply services to £562,597,000, and, with $£224,000,000 for fixed debt charge and £11,300,000 for other Consolidated Fund services, brought the estimated expenditure for the current year "to a total of £797,897,000. In estimating the revenue for 1936, Mr. Chamberlain said he anticipated a considerable upward movement in customs and excise, and was budgeting for a substantial increase in nearly all items, with a total estimate on the existing basis of taxation of £314,000,000, or £10,500,000 more than the actual yield last year. Revenue Increases Anticipated

From inland revenue also the Chancellor said he expucted. substantial increases, namely, £10,000,000 more from income tax and £3,500,000 more from surtax, which would show for the first time, owing to tie year's lag behind income tax, the effects of the last two years' improvement in trade. Mr. Chamberlara said he had put down £89,000,000 as the yield from death duties, and £27,000,000 from stamp duties, making with other items a total for inland revenue of £420,000,000. With the Post Office's contribution of £10,750,000, the total estimated revenue on the existing basis of taxation would be £776,606,000, leaving him with a deficit of £21,291,000.

The Chancellor then proceeded to explain his proposals for balancing the Budget from measures to bo incorporated % the Finance Act for dealing with ingenious methods of tax evasion 'which he described. He expected to get several millions in this way. Relief on Small Incomes

However, the Chancellor said, he proposed to carry a little further the relief he had given last year to taxpayers with sjnall incomen and the burden of a family. He was increasing the allowance for children from £SO to £6O per child at a cost of £1,000,000 this year and £2,000,000 in a full year. Mr. Chamberlain said he was raising, at a similar sacrifice of revenue, tho general allowance for married persons from £l7O to £IBO per annum. For the future a person abroad would be treated in the same way as a person at home. The Chancellor condemned the existing system of feeding the Road Fund out of the varying produce of duties fipecifically assigned to it as irregular. iWhile he disclaimnd any intention to curtail road development, he said it should be replaced by a more normal method which would allow Parliament to assess the needs of the fund and satisfy them by \otes out of revenue as a whole.