TAX REDUCTIONS PROMISED LATER

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 143, 7 September 1927, Page 13

TAX REDUCTIONS PROMISED LATER

jEW SCALE DEFENDED OF CRITICISM rS fi SOS'S Parliamentary Reporter.) 1 WELLINGTON, To-day. WHEREAS the Minister of 1 \\ Finance, the Hon. W. Dowme j > continues to vindicate 5 Government's act on in adthe graduation of the J “f. n ‘ tax. members cf the uouie of Representatives conwith eqiai consistency, to ‘rtark the altered schedule as a flilire to meet the taxpayers’ position equitaolyTie assertion was. made, in the ‘ d ffadiis discussion on the Land Irccme Tax Amendment Bill toUtat the stir which the new caused in the country had ,ii a surprise »o the Government. Jlwlllsister. on the other hand, says r® t!ie benefits of the revision of the tnration system will be felt next t/ben endeavours will be made J -o eflf'et reductions to the most deMinister explained that it was ■iflcult to say exi.ctly what amount i tax would be payable by a man 1,-eiTlnx a certain income unless the , r ,instances of a particular case , e re known. There were so many temn ions provided that individual nrestigation was necessary in each ' e He not( d that in every case Uere tlte complete position had been MDlained to hose concerned there hid been a ready admission that the Lr graduation was fair, just and emiitabic. The difficulties of the deMrtoen: in assessing the base upon which to work in order to make the -dative positions of the maximum and ainimum payers had been great. If i, t, a d been merely a matter of < a ; nan with double income paying double tax everything would have been eis*. but under our law the man receiving £2.000 did not pay merely •irice the tax paid b > r a man receiv " jj. £I,OOO, but something like 10 ■mes as, much. It was irrelevant i bether more or less revenue was to te derived if a correct distribution were trade on those who had to pay. He claimed that revision was called for and asked members of the House not to adopt the old saying that “an old tax is good tax, and a new tax is bad tax.” ELECTION YEAR Notwithstanding the explanation of the Minister, Mr. H. E. Holland could not reconcile himself to the belief that this readjustment was necessary. The Government had in 1925 definitely promised reduced taxation, but in his Budget speech Mr. Stewart had been .ailed upon, more or less, to apologise for not bavins executed this promise. Sveryotie was aware that, with every tncrease in the public debt, there was an added interest charge, and such a harge necessarily meant higher taxation.

The point was. did this adjustment dace taxation on an equitable basis? aid Mr. Holland. He suggested that it did not. Could not the adjustment bare been made without increasing the revenue, but merely by altering the lasts. It was significant that the remission in taxation which was promised for next year vvas fixed for election year, and to his ears that .-oundetl very much like electioneering tactics. He thought that the scientific principle of taxation was that it was not what was taken from the taxpayer that counted hut what was left him. “axpayers with small taxable bailees were; far more heavily taxed iian those with largo taxable balances. “HOW LONG?” Th» Hon. A. L> McLeod found it Irrd to understand why Bir Joseph Tar I, a: id also the Labour Party, cere very strongly in favour of abandonment of company taxation. It nust follow that to provide the same amount of revenue taxation ag'ainst an Individual on the lower scale must Si up immensely. The moral effect of an increase in tuatior, in the face of the speeches nade by the Minister calling upon the people to (lo their best to increase Production, was deprecated by Mr. G. W. Forbes, Leader of the Nationalist I'arty. Everyone knew that it was easy enough to say that it was necessary to make an increase so as to 'ring about better graduation, but how ng was this re-grading system going la last Mr. Forbes considered that 're Minister of Finance should have fnougi ingenuity to bring about remding without increasing the burden. Tie readjustment had been made at an inopportune time. T am getting tired of looking for mmething that is going to Help the '"finer." said Mr. W. E. Lysnar. there is not a spark of assistance in this. The farmer to-day wants relief tr om taxation particularly, and the r ojority of farmers desire income tax "‘id nor lard tax. If the income tax ; ‘hcot be substituted then the land cue should be modified in some way.” Mr. T. K. Sidey. Dunedin South, said at the two taxing Bills had come o something in the nature of a bomb‘"■eil to the country which had been ; u to expect some remissions of taxa!>n' The Minister had appropriated Pert of the surplus to reduction—of “Pot, but there was no obligation to that. Tiie Minister should have t! en ab:a to readjust taxation wittlc« imposing mere. in his reply Sir. Stewart said that J2 attempt to reduce taxati on would ''’suit in greater anomalies than exist ‘■ fire Present. ihs Bill was read a second time.