THE COST OF DYING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27196, 27 September 1949, Page 6

THE COST OF DYING

Sir, —I am sure everyone who has had to fix up estates with the Government Stamp Office will sympathise with and endorse the remarks of your correspondent, “ Justice.” The whole attitude of the department is wrong from an ethical point of view, and the pettyfogging and pin pricking has reached a fine art which could only be found in Government departments. For instance, the long list of questions they hand out to executors contains such ! questions as " How much money did th* deceased have in the house at the time of death? ” Further than that, the department will spend, apparently, endless time chasing up watches, radios, blankets, etc., if such items are not mentioned by : name in the estate, until one wonders if the amount of estate duty on such articles could possibly equal the wage costs of those officials engaged in the hunt. To my mind, one of the worst injustices is the practice of charging interest on overdue estate duty. In very many (if not all) cases it is the slowness and delays on the part of the Stamp Office which make it impossible to get a statement of estate duty in time to pay within the three months’ grace—yet the estate is penalised. One can only hope for a time when a much higher standard of ethics will be brought Into Government dealings with the taxpayer, but in the meantime we can only say what we think.—l am, etc., Another Taxpayer. Siiy—lf what your correspondent writes is correct, then it is a rather terrible advertisement for a so-called humanitarian Labour Government. Strangely enough, in this same issue of the Daily Times is another statement on State houses that I have been wanting for some time. Let ,us take the two together. Those who rent State houses only pay in proportion to the cost of interest, rates, upkeep, etc. Nothing whatever is allowed for the capital expenditure. They are, in effect, getting in "on the cheap.” On the other hand, the coucle who struggle and save to pay off their home have the callous treatment described by your correspondent meted out to them. State housing lost well over £IOO,OOO last year, and it will, of course, get worse. This ghastly “ death duties ” tax is apparently one way the Government is using to offset the losses. It is idle to point out that the average cost of a worker’s home nowadays is about £ISOO, and that is the least that should be tax free. Mr Nash said in Parliament just a day or two ago that it could not be said the Labour Government was taxing the worker too much. If, I repeat, your correspondent's statement is correct, then the Minister's statement is plain hypocrisy. If the Government is hurled into the wilderness on November 30 it can add to its collection of " reasons ” for defeat thi3 one of downright, callous stupidity.—l am, etc., Worker.