TAXATION PROPOSALS

Otago Witness, Issue 3313, 12 September 1917, Page 21

TAXATION PROPOSALS

BETTER BASIS DESIRED. MEETING OF BUSINESS MEN. WELLINGTON, September 4. A meeting of local business men and representatives from all parts of the dominion was held to-day at the invitation of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce. Mr F. W. Manton presided, and the chamber was crowded. The chairman said the meeting had been called, not to have the, proposed taxation reduced, but that it might be put on a more suitable basis. Delegates were appointed, and conferred later under the auspices of the New Zealand Association of the Chambers of Commerce, to draft proposals to put before the Minister of Finance this evening.

DEPUTATION TO MINISTER. WELLINGTON, September 4. The delegates appointed at the meeting held to consider the taxation proposals waited on the Minister of Finance this evening. The members of the deputation said they had no desire to escape taxation and _no complaint regarding the amount of taxation, but they wished the incidence of taxation to be as nearly ae possiblo fair. The present tax on joint stock companies was likely to press hardly on shareholders receiving small amounts. Relief, it was understood, was provided up to £3OO per year, but no relief for thoee getting just over £3OO. The deputation asked that the inequalities which would be inflicted on shareholders receiving moderate sums should be remedied. It was suggested that some people should pay more than they were being asked to pay. A man getting £4OO a year should be prepared to pay more than £6 5e in taxation, and a man getting £SOO more than £l2 10s. A man getting £IOOO should pay more than £7O. If men getting these incomes were deriving them through company investment they would have to pay from five to 10 times those amounts.

Sic Joseph Ward said company taxation had "been one of the great troubles of the Budget. The trouble with company taxation was to arrive at something fair all round, and the problem was not easy of solution. It had been suggested that there should be a flat tax, but that would not work out as well as some people thought. He had not been able to find a satisfactory way of dealing with the matter, and the exemption to £3OO had been made to ameliorate —not finally remove —the trouble. He* thought the only way would be for him to go into it again to see if the £3OO could be extended. If such .an extension meant a lot of money it would have to be made up. They could be sure that it would ba made up, because the money had to be procured. He would go into it again,*.and if he could make it more equitable* he would do so. He intended to provide for wasting assets, but found that the revenue lost would be so'great that he would have to put additional taxation on the same people. THE MORTGAGE TAX. PALMERSTON N., September 6. The Provincial Executive of the Farmers' Union to-day passed a resolution protesting against the heavy taxation on land, as against the comparatively low taxation on income derived from capital invested in mortgages on land. The executive considered that, in the case _ of heavily mortgaged properties, the nominalowners would be unduly- taxed in comparison with the mortgagee, and that it would be more equitable if the mortgagees paid the higher grade of income tax and the farmer the lower grade of land tax, or, in the alternative, that the owners of land should be able to recover one-third from the mortgagees of the proportion of land tax due on account of a mortgage. PROPOSED IMPOST ON MOTOR OARS. WELLINGTON, September 6. During the debate on the Financial Statement and on the Finance Bill several members of the House of Representatives urged a tax on motor cars in place of the tax on tea. Sir Joseph Ward answered these members this evening. There was a return available to any member of the House, he said, by which he would see that out of 12,380 motor cars imported into this country in three years only 1486 could be called pleasure cars. The average cost of the whole of the oars was £157, whilst the pleasure cars averaged a little over £2OO. The cai-3 gave employment to a large number of persons. It was suggested by members that the £99,000 to be. raised from the tax on tea should be obtained instead by a tax on motor cars. Last year £148,000 in duty was secured on motor cars, and the country wanted the money. There was a duty of 20 per cent, on cars from countries other than the Mother Country and Canada. If we doubled the duty to 40 per cent, on motor cars from other countries and 20 per cent, in the case of the British Empire we would stop the importation, POSITION OF SIMALL FARMERS. HAWERA, September 8. At a meeting of the Egmont A. and P. Association, Mr O. Hawker brought up the question of the land tax and mortgages proposal* of the Government, which, he said, would fall heavily upon small farmers in Taranaki. H-i moved —"That whilst this society recognises the necessity that all means possible should bo used to raise taxation, it considers that the incidence of the proposed taxation in regard to land and mortgages will affect this district very seriously." The President, in supportincj the motion, said the taxation rcff-rrpcl to was practice !!r TJixing a man on his debts. The motion was carried, and it was decided that a copy be sent to the Minister of Finance, the members for the district,

and also to the other associations in Taranaki. Mr Mills mentioned that the farmers' Union was also moving in the matter.