THE COLONIST. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1911 THE LIBERAL PARTY AND TAXATION.

Colonist, Volume LIII, Issue 13225, 30 September 1911, Page 2

THE COLONIST. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1911 THE LIBERAL PARTY AND TAXATION.

"Put the burden of taxation, on the shoulders best able to bear it" is a sentiment which may always be relied upon to tickle the ears of an audience at a political meeting. The frequency with which it is uttered in the course of the present campaign throughout the Dominion almost makes one siipposo that some Opposition and Independent candidates really believe the idea is a now one, and that there is a poor chance of its being realised unless they happen to be returned to Parliament. The methods proposed to roach the ideal cover a wide range, from absurd notions to moans at once feasible and prudent. A fact which interested candidates aro apt to hurry past or overlook entirely is that since the Lihcr.il Party has been in power efforts to grapple with the problem of a fair distribution of taxation have never boon rolaxed, and that thfi ideal of apportioning the burden according to the means of the taxpaying classes is now nearer realisation than it has ever before been in the history of the Dominion. The Hon. R. MeKcnzie, Minister of Public Works, dealt with the question of taxation very fully in his address at Wakefield last July, when he delivered the most effective refutation we have seen of the Opposition charge that under the Liberal regime the burden of taxation upon the mass of the people is growing heavier. The form of taxation which is general in its application, and which of courso is most heavily felt by the poorer classes, is Customs taxation. Mr. McKenzie was able to show that this has been enormously reduced by the Liberal Administration. A return read by him, to which wo have referred on previous occasions, showed that had.the Customs tariff in force when the Liberals entered upon office remained in existence up to tho present, the Customs revenue for the last twelve-monthly poriod would have baen £700;000 in excess of tho actual total. In twenty years the Liberal Administration has made remissions of Customs taxation amounting in tho aggregate to £5,322,048. The annual reduction, as compared with the 1891 tariff, works out nt £690,435. Enumeration of the articles in general use quoted by the Minister iipon which taxation has either been remitted altogether or greatly reduced would occupy more space than we can at present devote to it, but we will probably have to revert to tho subject before long. When the Liberal Government came into office the iniquitous property tax was in force, under which the unfortunate taxpayer was assessed on \ every article of property he possessed, j This was speedily abolished, and the ! land and income tax was substituted for it. Under the latter method the subject is faxed in proportion to his means, and he who does not possess more than sufficient to maintain him in comfort is exempted altogether. That tho Liberal Party has changed the incidence of taxation cannot be denied. In fact, as Mr. McKenzio remarked, the incidence of taxation j bad always been a clearly denned line ' of cleavage between the Conservative and the Liberal narties in this, as n-fill as In most other countries. The Opposition's anxiety to temper the j wind to the shorn lamb in annortion-! me taxation has a very hollow ring n'lmn thp actual achievements of the two parties while in power are compared.