The Oamaru Mail TUESDAY, AUGUST 28, 1917. TEA AND TAXATION.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIX, Issue 13239, 28 August 1917, Page 3

The Oamaru Mail TUESDAY, AUGUST 28, 1917. TEA AND TAXATION.

Tlie Minister for Finance it id not- add to his reputation by Lis -pleas tor the taxation of tea and the maintenance oi the drinking system. There x woulo have been, no need i'or apologies ana tortuous excuses if lie hadrun the ■c-traifiht course clearly inchoated: by rea■=on ' How can he justify his allegation that "this is the first time the working classes- have .been asked to paj a portion towards the cost- of the warr"' There is a stage which must iiol be exceeded in the imposition of taxation or the workers. Already that stage ha? been reached) in New Zealand. Already there are demands in every rank ol Labcr for additional pay to compensate for the increased cost- of living due tc the war and the Government, is adding fuel to'fire by imposing the additional burden, and providing: the workers'' spokesmen with another pretext for fomenting strikes. It cannot be said that the/workers, have paid nothing towards the cost- of the war -because tVj?v pay no direct tax. The increaseq prices imposed by the -producers ana vendors- of the necessaries, of hie,_ ir. some cases, perhaps, as helpless victims 'of the abnormal circumstances, constitute a tax which is infinitely greater in* proportion to the capacity to pay than the heaviest direct taxes imposed by the Treasurer on thc_wealthy. It has not vet been explained why the excessive v/Qjiltli which is beting r<?cip6G bv other sections of the community should not. be drawn upon much more liberallv in compensation for the sacrifices of its protectors. No one. could recsonablv object, and many or wealth have themselves, and througn the bodies to which they belong, advocated the liberal additional taxation oi wealth. But political circles seem to have beer 5 qrnitten with, imbecility in the presence of the monumental problem, wludi confront? the world, arid it affords no comfort to reject that -the malady may disappear. -when the war is past, for so. then, wilt the need for their transcendental wisdom and cool and dispassionate justice. It- is purine: the storm of war, with ah its allocation and devastating effects that th© emergency demanas something j mors than poiii-ica'l amateurishness. , Statesman worthy a title or such distinction should learn art- ot probing . beneath the .surface "or prai?!ems- submitted to thftm for solution, It ul '- j not occur to the Treasurer, it seems, | "that the workers were paying so much i indirectly," as every increase is borne 1 by the consumsfj and that- v eg J

'■of the many thousands of sons, brothers and husbands who have gone to the war from the ranks' of Labor have been sending numerous parcels of necessaries and other things to them so that their lives might he made more tolerable, and that on each of these parcels they have had to pay severaL shillings postage. The sending of such presents lias not only helped' the Treasurer, but it has also helped to keep oitr soldiers in good spirits in the midst of their perilous task. It would be folly to hone that the proposal to add a tea tax to the burdens of the poor will be rejected, as file National Government is an autocracy ; but this impropriety on the part of the Government —for every member of the. Administration is responsible for it—will not be forgotten by the people. Those who will drink intoxicants, war or no war. could have been called upon to pay, the £9.'),000 which it is expected to realise from the tea tax, for it seems that they will have their wanton and' selfish indulgence whatever the cost, in monov or morals. This amount, added to that derived from the ample taxation of wealth, would have made the finances of the country easy.