TAXATION REDUCTION.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 September 1924, Page 5

TAXATION REDUCTION.

AMENDING THE BILL, FIVE PER CENT. OFF LAND TAX. COMMITTEE REPORT DISCUSSED. The Public Accounts Committee has amended the Land and Income Tax (Annual) Bill, by altering a 10 per cent, reduction in the case of land tax; the reduction in income tax is not disturbed.

In the House of Repreeentativea the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (Mr. J. A. Nash) presented the report of the committee in regard to the Bill for the reduction of land and income tax, which recommended that the Bill be allowed to pass, with the amendment indicated by the committee, that the reduction on the land tax be 5 per cent, instead of 10 per cent., as provided in th« Bill. The Leader of the Oppomt-ron asked the chairman whether tiie committee ha 4 before them, information he asked the Prime Minuter to furnish with regard to the amount lost to the Treasury in land and income-tax laet year, and the income-tax receivable from incomes over £lO,OOO a year.

Mr. Nash: There ie only one amendment to the Bill: the reduction from 10 per cent, to 5 per cent., in the case of the land-tax.

Mr. Wilford: That is not my point. The committee evidently did not have the benefit of the information before them. The Prime Minister remarked that some of the details asked for would take a long time to secure, and could not be ready before the Bill waa proceeded with. He would endeavour to have some of the information for th® Leader of the Opposition before the Bill was dealt with in committee. "The points raised are harmllese, and easy to answer,” remarked Mr. Massey. Dealing with the committoe’s recommendation regarding the land-tax, Mr. Massey said several members of the committee were of the opinion that the Government should do more in knocking out or reducing th© land-tax 00. mortgages. That had been agreed to by the committee and himself. He felt that it would be unwise to go further with the reduction, as far as the amount was concerned. The reduction of the land-tax by 5 per cent, would aggregate £65,000; the reduction proposed in land-tax in the Bill was £135,000. Members would recollect that the Government had already made a reduction to the smallest of the settlers, and they were compelled to borrow money to enable them to carry, on their business. They reduced land-tax on mortgagee, up to £4OOO, and then it went off at a sliding scale, up to £BOOO.

The Leader of the Opposition; Will there be a larger margin? Mr. Massey: We go to £4OOO, up t. £10,090, and then to £I6,(MN). It ij a very considerable reduction, and afwis’france to the man with moderate farm anfl moderate capital.