FINANCE BILL VARIATIONS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14391, 1 September 1917, Page 4

FINANCE BILL VARIATIONS.

NEW TAX ON CIGARETTES.

'■ ' (From Our Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON", this day. As the result of hearing members' views on the Finance Bill Sir Joseph Ward, who was m a happy vein last night, announced a few variations m | ;the measure to mfeet suggestions. The I income tax exemption m respect to ichildren is to be increased to £25. ! Sir Josephi' remarke.d, apropos of demands i or various' concessions, said ; he hoped rtieinDers who were . fastidious about particular taxes would remember many concessions m the Bill, for he was not going 'to. give way on "what members .thought were unpopular taxes and leave all concessions.' Members should riot try to forie the Government by emerging on both sides to make it do -what they wanted. It \vas not at fan* way to Icarry but a political : truce. \Members : Wh<o: is doing, it? Sir Joseph Ward : I'm' not referring to anyone particularly. ;I'm- quite willing to ' change the tax on cigarettes (continued Sir Joseph Ward) where it is .■going ■■•.to ," : give" the Government more irevemve. - (Hear, hear.) % I'm, not willing 'to make changes to give less revenue, but if by letting £40,000 go and pirt'tiiig .'in a. total of : £120,000 and at the same; time not giving 'an increasing charge on* the : ground of excise duty,I'm willing to do it. I propose to add ,£BO,OOO to 'a £40,000 tax- and the system will be quite workable. ; BEER frUTY. ] 1 The Minister assured the House that 'the Goyern,irient had v doubled the beer duty since it took office, but ,if the House wished it to substitute heavier beer £or . lighter by a change m excise duty then it should say so. ; Members: No, no. Sir Joseph Ward went, on to say that he had seen by the balance-sheet of one of the largest brewery firms m the country- that it could not pay a profit after it( paid income tax, so the Government was not holding a shield over the big brewing ■ „interests., interests. To satisfy a Christ-church ctovrespondent and busybodie.V who were making suggestions he would* like to state that he had never had any interest m a- hotel or brewery. Another person who smarted under a £2000 tax alleged that he was m the employ of the American Meat Trust, so that he need not trouble about taxation. (Laughter.) He Avould pay more than £2000 tax, but would. Tjot grumble. He wished to state, iri ' replying to the representation that mutual insurance companies would be harshly treated under" the Bill, that the Taxing Commissioner had looked' into the position, and Avas satisfied -an adjustment of some kind must be «iadei In none of the clauses of the. Bill was there any intention of ruining anybody; ' . {.Pet Press Association.) ; ' ; WELLINGTON, last night, ' In the financial debate Mr Payne considered there' was no satisfactory' way of working out the war profits. fore he was glad to see the profits tax abolished. The tea tax was wrong, m principle, as it meant placing the extra ■ burden ' on the producers. The effect would probably be that merchants wouid sell inferior grade tea at a higher- .price. Mr Sykes put m a plea for more generous ti'eatment for men at the froni and $ov trading companies. Dr. Thicker said the Bill fulfilled his every desire. It ,was the finest machine for getting .money put up south of the line. He defended the compulsory clauses, and 1 asked that rigid precautions be taken to prevent farms of soldiers* falling, into the hands of aliens. : If it ,ciime to a division he would- vote against ;the tea tax.

Mr Craigie favored the accumulation of large surpluses m tjmes of prosperity and defended his proposed conscription of wealth. ' v : l

: Mr Webb deprecated! the agitation far heavier ' taxation of* motor cars, which ' had become a necessity' t6 farmers. He regretted more-, drastic taxation ihad not been 'imposed on land for the of bursting up/ large estates. The metliod of procuring land for solidiers by purchase was too slow and restricted m operation. : Mr Hindmarsh approved' of the taxation of • mortgagee, but regretted that m dealing with the l&hd question m general the Governmejit had not been gufnaiently herphc. . . ' . Mr Ell declared m favor of the taxa-

i,ion proposals generally, but would oppose taxation on tea. :

'Mr Wright contended that the compulsory clauses, 'unless modified -would completely confiscate the whole of the dividends of small shareholders m many companies. ••*■•■ Sir. Joseph Ward, m Teply, said the debate clearly "demonstrated what all knew — that taxation was objectionable; It was perfectly natural that those coming under new taxes should be anxious, and' it was not surprising .that there should be misconceptions. For instance, there had been' a proposal that they' should- revert to the old system of the rndrtgage tax; but that was impossible: if they were going to adopt progressive land and income tax. The two things could not go together, anci ;he would have to abandon the- main principle of his Bill if the old, mortgage tax was to be restored. It was also impossible because it Was a form of progressive land and. income tax, plus war itax.. He proposed 'to get revenue to oarry on the^ government of the country. He denied i!hat the mortgage! tax was a tax on ijebts. He contended that the land tax could not be collected ifi mortgage were 'allowed to go/iree. It was no use members suggesting that the finances of the country could be maintained by any iriere; transfer of systems^ If the war continued- two years longer, the (people would : be very lucky if they did riot have to pay heavier taxation than jasked for. m thY Budget. He was prei pared> m committee, to. accept an iamendment m the direction of giving married men greater exemption under the income tax on a basis of the number of children, and he also proposed to enlarge the board of appeal by associating two other officers with the Commissioner of Taxes. Hq was willing to ohange the taxation on cigarettes "1f it was' going to increase revenue without increasing the cost to the public, and' he was, now awaiting a report on the subject. On the subject of the beer tax, he pointed out that the Government ' had doubled this tax since it came into office. If the present system of collecting duty on specific gravity was not satisfactory then it could be changed^ but if- bo it would result m heavier' beer being brewed. This, he thought, was -a mistake, as the present system was adopted with a view t6 having light beers brewed m the interests of sobriety. Anyone who supposed! the Government was shield ing the brewers was mistaken. The Government 'had the fullest information ' concerning this business, and their proposals were based' on this information. He said the position of life assurance .companies, as mentioned by Sir John Findlay, was being looked into concern- 1 ing the position of the companies. He assured the House that there was no proposal m the Bill which intended to ruin anyone, but it was not possible to give relief m all the directions asked, for. Suggestions had been niade to him by which he would forego £630,000 of revenue but tinless that amount

' could be got from some other sources ] ' then what was asked for could not be 1 done. The compulsory clauses were not intended to harass anyone, but it was a y necessary precaution against financial i shirkers, who, if they exist, could bo. I dealt with. Concluding, ,he declared that it was no use members coming to him one day and asking for bonuses to the public service and similar conces- ! sions and next day demanding that the Government exercise thrift. It was equally, futile people coming to him and telling him they would have to.' 'borrow j money to pay taxes. Many had to ,do ; that last year, and what was being asked of them was not much, seeing that . so.'fai' we m New Zealand had scarcely; realised that there was a world war. raging. # i The second reading was carried amidst ' applause. . ' The Bouse went . into Committee of Supply and passed the legislative class, and the House rose at 9.30 p.m. . >