COST OF UNEMPLOYMENT

Taranaki Daily News, 14 February 1931, Page 12

COST OF UNEMPLOYMENT

SPREAD OVER WHOLE COMMUNITY.

VIEW OF MINISTER OF LABOUR.

Reply to the claim that the bearing of the burden of the cost of unemployment was thrown largely on the shoulders of the wage earners was made by the Hon. S. G. Smith, Minister of Labour, at a meeting of the North Taranaki Unemployment Committee in New Plymouth yesterday. Approximately 490,000 persons were registered under the Unemployment Act in New Zealand, said Mr. Smith, and of that number about 400,000 would pay the levy, giving the totpl of £150,000 per quarter. As a matter of fact the actual amount at the end of the first quarter was a good deal over £150,000. .'here had been some talk about the burden of supporting the unemployed being thrown on one section of the community. There were only 102,000 registered trade unionists in New Zealand under the Industrial Trades Act and. 28,000 registered unionists under the other Acts, making a total of 130,000 'men in New Zealand operating as unionists.

Every time the board spent £lOO,OOO the 'Consolidated Fund, subsidised it with £50,000. The Consolidated Fund was built up by land tax, income tax and. Customs taxation. So every man in New Zealand paid that amount out of the Consolidated Fund as well as the 30s levy. It was claimed that the worker paid the bulk of the Customs taxation by way of the tax on foodstuffs and necessities. Yet in 1928 the percentage for foodstuffs in the Customs tax w&s'only 3.8. Even with clothing and wearing apparel thrown in the percentage still was only 28 out of the total taxes. , So the actual 'amount that could be taken from the workers was only 28 per cent, and that was only in taxes on foreign foodstuffs.

“In spite of what has been said to the contrary, the raising of the money spent under the Act,” said the Minister, “is spread very equitably over the community.” Many men, especially in the outlying districts, said Mr. S. Flood in reply, were not registered as industrial unionists. Taking them all over the wage workers, not the salaried workers, were much in the majority.