HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9740, 16 August 1917, Page 3

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FINANCIAL DEBATE CONTINUED. The House of Representatives mot at 2.30 p.m. yesterday, the Speaker (Six F. W. Lam?) in tho chair. THE INSCRIBED STOCK BILL. Permission was given to Sir Joseph Ward to introduce the Inscribed stock Bill. He briefly outlined the purpose of the bill. Replying to a question Sir Joseph «aid the stock would bo inscribed at par. Safety would be one of the first and valuable essentials that the persons investing in the bill'would have. Replying to a question by Air Wilford as to the advantage of having stock inscribed Sir Joseph said that in the event of an. investor losing his record of investment the certificate could not be improperly used. In the event <J tho certificate being destroyed the register would save a loss to the owner. Mr Witty (Riccarton) said thatt he know of investors who Had lost their loan coupons. How would they fare? Sir Joseph replied that now the stock was inscribed there would he no con. rwyns. Any persons who had coupone could obviate further trouble by haying these coupons converted into inscribed stock. ~ , ~ Tho bill was put through all "s stages without amendment and passed. TAXATION CRITICISED. Mr Mander (Marsden) continued the Financial Debate after the dinner adjournment. He was not in favour of the coniisoattion of capital, and he was jrlad to see in the Budget that no such foolish step was proposed. If tho taxpayers were tactfully handled they would bring forth the necessary finances fox the country. The Government had to encourage exports. The figures as to imports for the past two years pointed to tho necessity for this step. 'Hungs were not as healthy as they might be in this respect. While he lully agreed (vith the Government in doing away with the excess profits tax he could not say the present taxation was altogether satisfactory The income tax graduation should not Stop at .£6IOO. Under tho proposed mortgage tax also there wodld be a great deal of hardship. This was a very objectionable form of tax, as no man cared to pay taxation on his debts. To be equitable, taxation should bo imposed as much as possible on the rich and as little as possible on the poor. Mr Mander said that in view of the heavy indebtedness of the Dominion in the future there was great need for economy and for self-sacrifice by the wealthy classes. Then the Government had to encourage productiveness, and towards this end should leave tho coutry with a fair amount of labour to work the farms. People who were getting over £3OO a year should not clamour for war bonuses. NINETEEN-YEAR SOLDIERS. Turning to the rumoured proposal of the Government to conscript hove of nineteen years, Mr Mander said if this were correct he would be against such a stem He believed the Second Division men would prefer to go themselves than see these boys go. It was terrible for the mothers of the Dominion to think that their young boys were to be taken awav from them and sent to the front. Military opinion gave it that boys of nineteen could not stand the strain of fatigue. Finally Mr Mander expressed himself as opposed to tho tax on tea. _ This was hardly consistent with tho desire to keep down' the cost of living. He would prefer to sea a heavier tax on beer. MOB.E "PUNCH” WANTED. iMr C. H. Poole (Auckland West) said that while ho paid a tribute to the manner in which the Finance Minister had handled the finances of the Dominion, the Budget proposals had not enough punch in them to satisfy him. A Finance Minister should have plenty of punch and plenty of kick in him. Tho Budget, however, had very few anomalies and the taxation was beginning to be placed on the right shoulders. Mr Poole characterised the National Government as an organisation of compromise. Yet with all the shortcomings of the Cabinet members had had given to them a Budget on the right lines. Mr Poole, in pleading for better union between the farmer and the town resident, pointed as to how one was dependent on the other. Representatives of various classes in the community could not affoixi to sneer at each other. /The future financial obligations of the Dominion were to be heavy. In calling on the Second Division the Government was cutting into a solid wall of finance. The Government would be placing on the oonntrv the greatest financial obligation possible. War’s legacy would be a severe "one in this respect. The Government had to face this question with all -’oriousne-s. THE COST OF LIVING. Mr Poolo pointed to the fact that the i mesial institutions had post £212,733

lasrt year, an increase of £14,758 over the previous yrar. This increase was P’>] downdotho increase in the cost of Rood bedding and dot lung. He contended that this was directly due to the failure oi t‘ho Government to cope with the cost of living. It was in evidence in other Government Departments. This timid handlin>f of a bis question was really another way for subsidising the food exploiter, lie was pleased to, see that the Government was now going to set up a, committee. If this , had been done two years ago much of the existing trouble would tie saved. 11© condemned flic curtailing of the suburban train service, which penalised people who lived in the suburbs. This was further increasing the cost of living. It was a lamentable fact that the Government .had to appeal for money from the wealthy people by offering an investment free of income tax. He hoped that the beer tax would yield a smaller sum than estimated—if the demands of the people for curtailment of 'hotel hours wore granted tho result of the tax would be smaller sure enough. STIFF GRADUATED LAND TAX WANTED. Mr C. J. Talbot (Tcmuka) said that though the Budget was a stupendous one. he thought that its record figures would have to be eclipsed if war went on next year. (Hear, hear.) 'Whatever one might think of the National Government as a whole, and whatever partyone might belong to, lie tnought that everybody would hope that the Minister for Finance would be in the Cabinet next rear to again pull the country through difficult times. (Hear, hoar.) Dp to the present, they had not taken enough of the immense sums winch liaa come into the country by way of increased prices for produce. (Hoar, hear.) Tho war could not bo finuncedl by a coniurer’s trick. Taxation, moreover, was a remedy for extravagance,, and a great, portion of tho cost of the war might be financed out of revenues. (Hear, hear.) A distinction ought to be made between earned and unearned incomes, and tho graduation ought not to stop at £6IOO. (Hoar, hear.) There were anomalies and inequalities in the Excess Profits Tax. and he thought that the country would welcome its repeal, and the fact that the increased income tax would yield more than the Excess Profit© Tax. He thought that the income tax exemption might well have been reduced to £2OO or .£250 in tho case of bachelors. A bachelor with £2OO a year might really be better off than a 'married man with a big family, and witu a.n income of £SOO a year. (Hear-, hear.) He did not agree with the suggestion to reduce the exemption to £2OO in the case of married men, as an income of £3OO a year now was not worth much more, owing to the rise in prices, than £2OO before the ’ war. (Hear, hear.) While the land tax on the smaller values had been increased because of the mortgage tax, on the bigger values it had been actually decreased. Tho Finance Minister had pointed out that in land and income tax combined the big men paid considerably more than before: but it could not be gainsaid that, the land tax stimulated production, whereas the income tax discourag-' ed production and limited enterprise. (Hear, 'hear.) He thought the mortgage tax a mistake. He considered the taxation on the small landholders too heavy: and he would favour instead a level laud tax. without the mortgage tax, with a stiff graduation after a certain amount. (Hear-, near.) He would be much stifler on the big landowners than the Finance Minister would be. (Hear, hear.) Aggregation was taking place in his own and other districts, and it ought to be stopped. (Hear, hear.) If a stiff graduated land tax were put on big estates, the price of land would go down, and they would then get land for soldiers much more readily. (Hear, hear.) He opposed tho tax on tea, and would rather see an export tax on wool and dairy produce. He thought that the importation of luxuries should lie prohibited, that horse racing should be stopped, that picture shows should be more strictly censured, and that the beer tax should be increased. (Hear, hear.) At 10.47 p.m, Mr C. B. Stai’ham (Dunedin Central) moved the Mijournment of the debate, and the House adjourned accordingly till 2.30 this afternoon.