NO REDUCTION IN TAXATION

Southland Times, Issue 25746, 9 August 1945, Page 4

NO REDUCTION IN TAXATION

Forecast Of Budget PRESENTATION ' THIS EVENING (Special) WELLINGTON, August 8. Substantial increases in Social Se-' curity benefits are expected to be announced in the Budget which will be presented in the House of Representatives tomorrow night by the Minister of Finance, Mt Nash. Full details are likely to be given also of the proposed minimum family income, which will- be the subject of legislation later in the session.

Although Mr Nash has already indicated that with the end of the war with Germany a reduction can be expected in the amount of money required for war purposes, no general

relief in the existing rates of taxation is likely. Indeed the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, stated last session that the Government would not consider a reduction in taxation until every man of the armed forces had been rehabilitated back into civil life. Last year’s expenditure on the war totalled £133,000,000 and the estimate for the current year will be given in the Budget. The proposed reductions in the personnel of the armed forces announced in the House of Representatives last week will also be reflected to a certain extent in the expenditure this financial year if they are carried out, as intended, by the end of December. Before last year’s Budget was presented it was suggested that personal exemption from taxation might be increased from £2OO to £250 or £3OO in the case of the family man, but the exemption remained unchanged. Similar suggestions are circulating again this year, but if any adjustments are made they are not expected to go to this extent.

An increase of 5/- a week has been mentioned in the Social Security benefits. The Social Security tax amounts to 1/- in the £1 on wages and salaries and incomes, and it was publicly stated by Mr F. Hackett (Lab., Grey Lynn) some months ago that the present national security tax of 1/6 in the £1 on all forms of income is to be diverted to the Social Security Fund to provide the additional benefits. It is expected that reference will be made in the Budget to the intention of the Government to purchase the privately held shares in the Bank of New Zealand, but whether any information will' be given about the method by which the Government proposes to finance this proposal or about the basis of payment for the shares remains to be seen. It is anticipated that the Budget will outline some form of assistance for manufacturers and others to enable them to replace obsolescent machinery.