QUESTION AND ANSWER

Southland Times, Issue 25690, 26 June 1943, Page 4

QUESTION AND ANSWER

Keep Taxation Down WHO WOULD REALLY BE PAYING FOR THE WAR IF MONEY IS GOT FROM BANK CREDIT INSTEAD OF FROM THE PUBLIC? The people would, because inflation waters down the purchasing power of their money. Inflationary finance is a concealed form of taxation, and the rate of this sort of tax can rise as high as 20/- in the £ on all incomes and all savings. It should never be forgotten that the people would pay a much heavier price by an inflationary way of financing the war than by the clear-cut method of lending all they can. Very well, then, it’s pretty clear that war materials and services must be paid for in the same way as civil goods and services, but why should people on relatively small incomes be required to help? Why not get all the war loan from people on high incomes? There are two main reasons. One is that high incomes pay a high rate of taxation, and a large proportion is already going towards war expenses, in addition to the war loan subscriptions that are expected out of such incomes. The other reason—and this is the main one—is that New Zealand is chiefly made up of people with medium sized incomes. It is a plain fact that people getting up to £5OO a year receive no less than 75 per cent, of the total incomes of the country. If you took every penny from people getting more than that, you wouldn’t get nearly enough to pay for the war. This is everybody’s war, and can only be paid for if everybody helps. 1576

The Southland County Council decided yesterday to invest an additional £2OOO in the third Liberty Loan. ELECTRIC IRON LEFT ON.—The City Fire Brigade was summoned at 7.30 p.m. yesterday to 27 Beatrice street, where a fire had broken out as a result of an electric iron being left switched on. Only superficial damage was done, the fire being extinguished by means of a bucket pump.