THE GOLD TAX

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23004, 6 October 1936, Page 14

THE GOLD TAX

10 THE EDITOR.

Sir,—lt is probable that few are aware that the special tax of 12s 6d per ounce is not the only tax and charge levied on the gold produced in the Dominion. The following extract from the 1935 Mines Statement shows that the gold taxation levied in that year was as follows: —"During the year ended March 31 last the total of the three duties on exported gold amounted to £116,100, of which £6752 was credited to the accounts of local bodies. The special export duty of 12s 6d per ounce amounted to £106,976, which sum was paid into the Consolidated Fund. In addition to the above, the amount of goldfields revenue received and credited to the accounts of local bodies during the same period was £21,712, a decrease of £2726 compared with the previous year."

It is strange that the Government and the public at large do not now realise the vast importance of the gold mining industry. Notwithstanding the cost of production, every ounce of gold produced is real wealth added to the State.

For instance, let us suppose that a miner produces an ounce of gold valued at, say, £7, the cost of producing which amounted to £lO. Of this amount £3 represents money previously in existence, while the money derived from the sale of the gold is new money, which immediately enters into circulation thereby stimulating trade and employment, besides adding to the gold credit of the country. Even if gold mining is frequently carried on at a loss to the individual miner or company shareholders, the industry is still adding to the total wealth of the State. It is well-known that the discovery of gold in California and later in Victoria and still later in Otago, was accompanied by an immediate increase of population and prosperity. In the production of gold the gold miner competes with nobody. On the contrary, he is a consumer. All of this emphasises the folly of imposing a special tax on a valuable and deserving industry, especially when it is known that the great majority of gold mines arc working on the border line, and liable at any moment to be pushed out of existence unless the export tax is remitted.—I am, etc.

i David Christie Lawrence, October 5.