PREPARATION FOR BUDGET

Taranaki Daily News, 8 March 1929, Page 9

PREPARATION FOR BUDGET

DEPUTATION MEETS CHANCELLOR

British Official Wireless. ' Rugby, March 6. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Winston Churchill, yesterday received a deputation from the Association of British Chambers of Commerce. It is customary for the Chancellor to receive such a deputation before the preparation of the Budget to enable the representatives of commerce to place their views before the Chancellor on financial questions. -

Tlje deputation expressed gratitude to the Government for the derating scheme, which they believed would be°of great assistance to the producers and manufacturers. They emphasised the need for tax remission and advocated the introduction of penny postage. Mr. Churchill, replying, undertook -to give consideration to the representations made. Referring to the outlook regarding revenue, he remarked that they started the calendar in January with, as usual, a very heavy deficiency of over £130,000,000 due to the fact that the expenditure flowed out evenly over the whole year, but the great bulk of the revenue came in in the last quarter. That- deficit had already been reduced by £100,000,000, and was only just over £30,000,000 with three and ahalf weeks of the financial year still to go.

Officials were engaged at present in surveying samples of estimated profits for 1928, on which the forecast of the amount of income tax for the next year was based. These samples numbered many thousands, and it was on them that extremely accurate forecasts were based. He would not have the results for another fortnight, but he had a feeling that things would not be so bad for Britain, provided no violent dislocation and disturbance occurred in her affairs.