PUBLIC FINANCES

Southland Times, Issue 17968, 8 March 1917, Page 5

PUBLIC FINANCES

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE. FIGURES FOR 11 MONTHS. (Per United Press Association.) WELLINGTON, March 6. According to a statement issued to-day by the Acting Minister of Finance, the revenue for February, as compared with February, 1916, shows a net increase of £318,321. There is an appreciable decrease in Customs, and also in railways revenue. Income tax shows a very considerable increase, and death duties also show a large increase. The details are as follow: — February. February 1917. 1916, Customs £261,304 £331,959 Stamp and death duties 218,069 136,616 Post and telegraph .. 20,680 20,979 Land tax 1,540 12,405 Income tax 1,093,864 767,392 Beer duty 16,082 21,124 Railways 403,423 430,316 Registration & other fees 6,571 8,180 Marine 3,599 4,401 Miscellaneous 66,924 64,727 Territorial 38,582 44,146 Other receipts 29,928 Totals £2,160,566 £1,842,215 The revenue for the eleven months ended February shows a net increase of £1.068,600 over the previous similar period. Here again land tax is the only source of revenue which shows a serious The details are as follow; —

11 months 11 months ending Feb. ending Feb. 28th. 1917. 28th, 1916. Customs £3,43t>,361 £2,999,503 Stamp & death duties 1,543,988 1,223,148 Post and Telegraph 1,282,577 1,148,290 Land tax 690,971 1,024,227 Income tax 1,199,01 i 1,102,119 Beer duty 166,857 136,19.1 Railways 4,13 <,6 40 3,824,496 .Registration & other f ees 01,004 88,948 Marine 38,154 41,186 Territorial .. .. 178,758 179,172 Miscellaneous .. . . 369,996 321,916 Motional endowment revenue 85,971 92,655 Other receipts .. 32,181 12,073 Totals .. .. £13,252,525 £12,193,925 "Taking the expenditure,” said the Minister, “for the eleven months, there has been an increase of £1,316,940 in the 1917 period. This is almost entirely due to the expenditure on interest and sinking fund, war pensions, and war bonuses. The net increase under the heading of annual appropriations only amounts to £1 1,578. A comparison of individual departments, however, shows that there lias been a considerable increase of expenditure in the Post and Telegraph Department, Internal Affairs, Agriculture, and Education funds, while Hallways ami Lands and Survey show a considerable decrease. The expenditure of the Public Works Fund for the eleven months of this year as compared with the eleven months of last year discloses a net decrease in the latter period amounting to £883,432. while the position of the Public Works Fund up to February 28 shows that on that date there was a balance of £722,640 available for expenditure.