TAXATION RELIEF OVERDUE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22630, 23 July 1935, Page 8

TAXATION RELIEF OVERDUE

The address delivered by Mr C. B. Barrowclough, as retiring president, at last evening’s meeting of the Chamber of Commerce went far to justify the tribute paid later by Sir James Grose to the value of the services rendered by the Chambers of Commerce to the business community in .New Zealand through their careful study of current trade problems. Mr Barrowclough devoted critical attention to the experimental legislation passed by Parliament during recent months and expressed the quite understandable hope that no more of such “ novel ” legislation was likely to reach the Statute Book. He admitted that the enactments referred to were necessarily novel, as they were designed to meet novel circumstances, and the apparently well-founded'' expectation that the national wealth is once more being steadily built up should exclude the likelihood of fresh recourse to legislative expedients of a somewhat doubtful character. Mr Barrowclough was particularly convincing in his concise statement., of the case for taxation relief. Using, for the purpose of illustration, a table setting out the value of the Dominion’s exports in the last seven years, he showed that whereas

in 1928 exports were valued at £56,188,481, there was a decline to the low total of £35,153,028 in 1931 and thereafter a partial recovery to £47,901,000 in 1934. Throughout that period, however, the taxation load per head of population was steadily increased. In 1928 it stood at £l6 2s sd, made up of £ll 17s 7d in Government taxation and £4 4s lOd in local body taxation. In 1934 the Government taxation had increased to £l3 18s 7d and, the local body rating having fallen to £3 18s 3d, the total per capita impost was £l7 16s lOd. Two pounds per head were added to the Government taxation in the past year, and, on the assumption that the local body taxation was on the same scale as in the previous year, this brought the crippling burden for the period ended March 31 last to £l9 16s lOd. There need be no hesitation in saying that some relief from this heavy load will be looked for during the coming session. The finances of the country are in a very healthy condition, with revenue in many cases far exceeding the Budget estimates. Income tax and sales tax yields have, as the figures quoted by the Minister of Industries and Commerce last night showed, both reflected the greatly improved condition of trade and business in general. The evidences cited by Mr Masters of the recovery that has been effected in the past year

furnish, indeed, even more conclusively than those submitted by Mr Barrowdough, ground for the hope that relief may be afforded to the taxpayer in the near future. If the Minister of Finance is seeking the guidance of precedent he will find it in the case of Australia, where taxation remissions have been found to be practicable, despite the fact, which Mr Masters emphasised so strongly, that the Commonwealth is not so happily situated financially as is New Zealand, and where the effect of these remissions has been favourably reflected in trade and commerce.