UNJUST POSITION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25302, 12 August 1943, Page 4

UNJUST POSITION

PEOPLE WITH FAMILIES BURDEN OF TAXATION " Compared with a single man, a married man to-day is in an unjust position, said the president (Mr C. E. Begg) in his address at the annual meeting of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce last night. “I think that some further action should be taken up by the Government, possibly in the direction of a special tax on single men and on married men with no families, the proceeds of such tax to be used to alleviate the tax position of people with large families. , ... „ “ We all know that at the present time, he said. “ many young people are earning very high wages. Some of them may be investing a good deal of their earnings in various ways against the time when the added responsibilities of marriage will make a heavy call on their finances, but I do not think it would be unjust if in the case of all single persons under the age of, say, 25, and earning more than a certain amount per week, a proportion of their income should be withheld by Government action, to be paid over to them when they marry. There are various ways in which the unjust situation could be handled, and this is one suggestion for doing so. Mr Begg emphasised that he was not criticising the principle of social security, which he believed in, but he could not support a scheme which took the money out of the pockets of parents at a time when their children were growing up and were costing a great deal of money in order to give them back money later on in life. Their need might be great in later years, but it was far greater when they were building up the nation in their homes. Mr Begg quoted figures to illustrate his point. He said that a single man earning £6 a week had, after paying income and social security taxes, a balance of £254 2s 8d left. A married couple with four children, on the same weekly wage, paid no income tax, but the same amount of social security tax as the single man, and was left with a balance of £273, only £lB 17s 4d more than the single man with no responsibilites. On this amount the couple had to feed, educate, and clothe their family.