FIXING TAXATION.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 July 1924, Page 5

FIXING TAXATION.

WHO SHOULD REOOMMENOt. RICH MKN ON COMMISSION. PROTEST IN THE HOUSE. (By Wire—Parliamentary Reporter). Wellington, Laat Night. As was to be expected some reference to the personnel of the taxation cMjpnfaaion was made m the House to-day. Mr. TM. Wilford (Leader of the Opposition) said that on the last commission three oil the members were the same a* acted oa a former commission of the kind. The Prime Minister: “It was not a comI mission, it was a committee.” ■ Mr. Wilford remarked that there wa* no ' difference between the two. However, he i was not at all surprised that the finding I of the last commission was unanimous be- [ cause all that three of the member* had I ; to do was to get the fourth man round to : their opinion. The commission set up wae 1 one of rich men. j The Hon. Downie Stewart, replying to Mr. Wilford, stated that the latter had been quite unfair in a speech he had made when he said that a gentleman wa* appointed to the commission because he wa* interested in petrol. Mr. Wilford: No. The Prime Minister (emphatically): Ye*. Mr. Stewart read what Mr. Wilford was reported to Lave said at Whangarei, tad insisted that he was placing a correct interpretation on Mr. Wilford’s reference. Mr. Wilford: You would have a queer mind to think that. Mr. Stewart: I would like the honourable member to explain what the object of his remark was if it wm not to suggest that there was some improper thing in a man mixed up in petrol being on a taxation commission. He must have known that that commission had no power to deal with customs taxation or any matter* so far as petrol is concerned. “What I said was,” remarked Mr. Wilford, “that it was a rich man’s commission and that rich men were appointed for the purpose of deciding what the rate of taxation on the public should be, and I said that a man in a big business, a man like Mr. Shirtcliffe, was not the man to put on a commission to say what taxation th* people of New Zealand should pay.”