The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET, AUCKLAND MONDAY, JULY 29, 1929. THE TAXATION BALLOON

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 727, 29 July 1929, Page 8

The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET, AUCKLAND MONDAY, JULY 29, 1929. THE TAXATION BALLOON

EVERY' person in New Zealand owes more nationally and pays a larger sum in interest on debt annually in proportion to population than anybody else in the whole world. This may seem as the exaggeration that is best described as nonsense, but it happens to be the disagreeable truth. It is a statement made deliberately in a special bulletin by Canterbury economists who, with all their faults, can at least dissect a national balancesheet and prove that, whatever political financiers may say or do to the contrary, 2 plus 2 always make 4, and 5 plus 4 will never add up to 10. indeed, the burden of taxation is already so excessive in this country that the new minority Government should bo dismissed without delay and forgotten, if it should, through Sir Joseph “Ward's prospective Budget, increase the present load on taxpayers. Total State taxation (omitting local body rates which are no less grotesque) has been almost trebled since 1914, while taxation per head has more than doubled itself in the same time. Income taxation, which severely hits those who have to work hard for their money in wages or professional salary, has increased by 491 per cent. If the dead could haunt Parliament and speak wisdom among foolish debaters, who have not been ashamed .-at wasting wealth, they would protest against the increase of 209 per cent, in death duties. Funerals are not alone responsible for the high cost of dying. But taxpayers are moody enough without becoming morbid. As everybody knows, or should know, before bowing in respect to great statesmen, the amazing • increases in New Zealand taxation and in the real burden of taxation are due -to an enormous expansion in State expenditure-. It is pointed out that the National Debt increased by £157,000,000 between 1914 and 1928. Since then the Prime Minister, with his first puff of borrowing, has inflated the balloon of indebtedness by considerably more than ten millions sterling. And it was his intention before the General Election to inflate it by an additional £70,000,000 or only £2,000,000 less than the full amount of the Dominion’s war debt. In plain and simple arithmetical figures the State within fourteen years has borrowed £85,000,000 for general purposes. It is fair to say that the greatest part of that huge indebtedness was spent on reproductive works which later will represent valuable assets and possibly yield pleasingprofit. Still, if all the borrowings by the State in the past ten years be aggregated the sum is approximately equal to the total National Debt before the war. No wonder the economists and the other heathen rage! All this increase in debt practically has trebled the interest bill. “Of the £11,000,000 paid annually in interest, £3,489,000 was paid in war debt, leaving more than 7J millions, almost double the pre-war interest bill, to be paid in other debt.” Hence the unique distinction of New Zealanders as to taxation indebtedness and the never-ending payment of interest. During the long boom in borrowing the Public Service has swollen like a toad-fish out of seawater. While the population of the country has increased only by 30 per cent, since 1914, the main departments of the State, representing about one-fourth of the total public employees in New Zealand, have increased 84 per cent., and tlieir salaries by 174 per cent., making the average salary increase throughout the whole service 49 per cent. Doubtless, administrators and heads of departments would assert that the growth of service and expenditure has been balanced by essential and efficient work. Many taxpayers, and particularly business men and industrial manufacturers, wlio are being advised glibly these days by politicians to overhaul overhead costs, will “hae their cloots.” In all probability a great deal of present financial trouble is due to the vicious habit during the war which encouraged colossal spending and precipitated a post-war boom. The time has come to go back to less extravagant methods. State administrators should overhaul national finance and dispense with some of the many expensive idlers and rubber-stamp experts and authorities. Sir Joseph Ward may protest that lie cannot avoid imposing a further increase in taxation. He should remember that he holds his high position for no other reason than his guarantee that lie and his party alone could ancl would reduce taxation, and make New Zealand a political wonderland of initiative and enterprise.

THE ECLIPSE OF THE ALL BLACKS

BETWEEN the method of its selection and the misfortunes it has suffered in the way of injuries, the 1929 All Black team hardly represented the true strength of New Zealand* Rugby, and therefore its dismal record should not in itself cause much heartburning. If its performances are an unflatteringreflex of the standard of the game in this country, they correspondingly reflect a great improvement in Australia, and for the sake of a noble and ancient game, as well as for the interest of future tests between the two Rugby nations, this improvement must be sincerely welcomed. There has been a tendency elsewhere to belittle Australia’s triple triumph on account of the part played by penalty kicks; but to have a run of success with penalty goals a side must maintain a consistent attacking position. In any case, goals and not tries won th,e rubber for New Zealand against New South Wales last year, so the luck has not been altogether one-sided. Even in injuries, misfortune has not attended the New Zealanders alone. Australia lost its crack threequarter, Towers, for one Test, and its clever fullback, A. W. Ross, for two. So, altogether, Australia is to be congratulated on a fine victory which will invest future engagements with a fresh interest. Guided by the brilliant Lawton, and assisted by a fine line of fleet threequarters, Australia is developing a style New Zealand might well emulate. One of its bewildering scoring movements on Saturday took the ball through eight pairs of hands. Exponents of the old. dour school of Rugby, with its processions of interlocked scrums, may scoff at the free development of the handling game; but for players, as well as spectators, there is a thrill about these keen, racing, combined attacks, and it is to be hoped that, without impairing the utility of the solid forward, these tactics may be fostered in New Zealand as well as in Australian Rugby. Undoubtedly t fie Rugby enthusiasts of this country will view with some concern the abject failure of this tour as a tour of discovery. It seems to have brought only one new player of any merit —C. Oliver —to the front. The hasty manner in which the two extra halfbacks were chosen, and the extent to which, on the playing field, they failed to vindicate their sponsors, must discountenance any suggestion that the selectors went about this part of tlieir task very seriously. Apart from the undeniable fact that All Black jerseys are being awarded to players little qualified to inherit the great tradition associated with the New Zealand colours, there is the added consideration that players of matehwinning calibre must be found in readiness for the British visit next year. Possibly the failure of this 1929 team in one of its essential purposes will stir the New Zealand Rugby Union to a fuller sense of its responsibilities.