PROVISION FOR SURPLUS

Southland Times, Issue 25747, 10 August 1945, Page 6

PROVISION FOR SURPLUS

CONSOLIDATED FUND ESTIMATES

(Special) WELLINGTON, August 9. Estimates of Consolidated Fund revenue and expenditure for 1945-46 are contained in the Budget, which was presented to the House of Representatives tonight by Mr Nash. The total revenue-is expected to produce £57,294,000, and with expenditure as set out in the estimates at £56,533,000 there is a balance available for supplementary estimates and contingencies of £761,000. Summarized, the estimated receipts and expenditure are — REVENUE £ Taxation— . Customs 8,500,000 Beer duty 2,100,000 Sales tax 4,200,000 Film hire 125,000 Highways 2,126,000 Stamp duty 2,250,000 Land-tax 930,000 Income-tax 27,000,000 Miscellaneous 100,000 47,331,000 Interest recoveries from trading activities, etc. < 5,403,000 Other receipts 4,560,000 9,963,000 £57,294,000 EXPENDITURE £ Permanent appropriations— Debt services— Interest and management 18,483,000 Repayments 3,939,000 Other special acts 2,574,000 24,996,000 Annual appropriations— Social services 21,092,000 Other vote 10,445,000 56,533,000 Supplementary estimates and contingencies 761,000 £57,294,000

In the revenue estimates, said Mr Nash, taxation at existing rates was estimated to bring in £1,642,000 more than last year, the only item of any moment being income tax, which last year produced £1,686,000 over the Budget estimate. A further increase of £1,314,000 had been allowed for this year. Interest receipts in total were set down at approximately the same as last year. Interest on railway capital was less by some £400,000 due to lower net revenue, but this was more than offset by increases under other items. Under the heading “other receipts” there was an increase of £1,365,000, due mainly to a change in accounting procedure involving the bringing in as revenue of certain credits previously shown as a deduction from expenditure. In these cases the revenue showed an apparent increase, but the expenditure was up by a similar amount being now shown as gross instead of net. TRANSFERS TO WAR EXPENSES

It had been the practice over the past four years to make substantial transfers to the War Expenses Account. Last year £4,000,000 was provided under this heading as a charge against that year’s Budget. Originally an annual transfer of £1,500,000 was provided for and was intended to cover subsidies which were transferred from the Consolidated Fund to the War Expenses Account, but as the total transfers from the Consolidated Fund were far in excess of the subsidies to transferred, there was ample justification for now discontinuing these transfers, particularly as the Consolidated Fund had been carrying the total increase in debt charges due to war borrowing totalling over £7,000,000 annually, as well as the increase in war pensions arising from the present war. The total transfers from the Consolidated Fund to the War Expenses Account over the four-year period amounted to £24,298,000 made up as under:—

£24,298,000 In addition, at the outbreak of war, the unexpended balances of the appropriations for 1939-40, for the three service votes totalling £2,288,000 were transferred to the War Expenses Account. The elimination of the transfer this year to the War Expenses Account had had the effect of reducing the expenditure under permanent appropriations. DEBT SERVICES The major item under the permanent appropriations was, of course, debt services which at £22,422,000 showed an increase of over £1,000,000 compared with the previous year, this increase being due in the main to last year’s borrowing for war purposes. The only other item of major importance under these statutory appropriations was the transfer of highways revenue to the Main Highways Account. This accounted for £2,126,000, the balance of the permanent appropriations being £448,000. Expenditure under votes at £31,537,000 showed an increase of £6,493,000. This was accounted for in part by the improvement in incomes which, as re-

gards State employees, was reflected in part only in last year’s accounts. In addition, other State expenditure was increased under numerous headings for the same reason, where the indirect effect of increases by contractors and local bodies was reflected in Government expenditure. Other major items contributing to the increase in votes were war pensions, health and education expenditure, and a substantial increase in social security benefits "necessitating a corresponding increase in the transfer from the Consolidated Fund to the Social Security Fund. i

Consolidated Fund annual surpluses 9,798,000 Four annual transfers at £1,500,000 per annum 6,000,000 Additional transfers in 1943-44 6,000,000 Additional transfer in 1944-45 2,500,000