DISTRICT TAXPAYERS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 81, Issue 7253, 18 September 1950, Page 8

DISTRICT TAXPAYERS

FIFTH MOST PROSPEROUS IN DOMINION SURVEY MADE BY DEPARTMENT With an average assessable income of £527, taxpayers in the Hamilton taxation district, which includes Tc Awamutu and district, during the 1948-49 taxation year were the. fifth most prosperous in New Zealand, according to a survey conducted by the Census and Statistics Department published in the latest Abstract of Statistics. .Ahead of Hamilton were Napier, New Plymouth, Invercargill and Wellington. The survey was made on the returns filed in the 1948-49 assessment ye.ar. All returnable incomes of £2500 a yeai or more were included. With those of less than £250 a year the returns cf taxpayers whose, surnames began with three selected letters were surveyed. This gave a sample of approximately 10 per cent, of the total for detailed analysis. The Hamilton district, which extends from Tuakau to Awakino and from Cape Runaway to National Park, is the third largest taxation district in the Dominion- Incomes are mere widely distributed than in the case of the districts ahead of it in the. survey. Main Centres Low The survey also showed that the four main centres were low on the list of average incomes. Wellington was fourth, Dunedin 12th, Auckland 13th and Christchurch 14th. The 14 districts arranged in the order of the average value of their 1948-49 returns with the two previous years for comparison are:—

fourth place in improvement from 1946-47 to the year under review. Napier had the greatest increase with £lOB, Whangarei was second with £B3 and New Plymouth third with £B2. The increases over the three years are:—Napier, £108; Whangarei, £B3; Nc.w Plymouth, £B2; Hamilton, £75; Greymouth, £73; Timaru, £67; Dunedin, £6O; Wellington, £57; Christchurch, £53; Nelson, £4B; Invercargill, £42; Palmerston North, £42; Auckland, £3B; Wanganui, £35. Increased Assessments The section of the survey dealing with New Zealand as a whole showed that assessments had increased from 392,23 Sin 1946-47 to 518,900 in 194849. The number of taxpayers had increased from 310,926 to 356,900 and the number of non-taxpayers from 81,307 to 162,000. The sources of income tax assessed during the year revealed that the greatest amount came from income earned as salary or wages. This was £7,560,000. Income tax from farming income was £6,090,000, from commerce trade or business £2,930,000, from professional occupations on own account £1,490,000, from investments £1,070,000 and £650,000 from an unspecified remainder. The statistics also showed that the greatest number of assessments were made on incomes from £3OO to £399 a year, although the income tax assessed in these cases was low. There were 137,800 assessments and the tax assessed was £BBO,OOO- Next largest group was that between £4OO and £499. There were 125,G00 assessments. From there, the numbers dropped regularly as the income groups increased although there was a sharp increase in the £lOOO to £1999 group (25,700) explainable partly by the fact that where the other brackets covered increases of £99 a year this had a £999 span.

1946-47 1947-48 1948-49 £ £ £ Napier . . 477 516 585 New Plymouth 462 486 544 Invercargill . . 490 507 533 Wellington .... 471 483 528 Hamilton .... 451 475 527 Palmerston N. 483 500 525 Timaru ... ... 456 477 523 Wanganui .. .... 477 499 512 Whangarei .... 429 444 512 Greymouth ... 438 451 511 Nelson .... 458 467 506 Dunedin 445 458 505 Auckland ... .... 460 464 498 Christchurch .... 439 404 492 The Hamilton district ascended to