WAGES AND INCOME

Taranaki Daily News, 11 March 1933, Page 7

WAGES AND INCOME

PRIVATE EARNINGS £160,000,000.

BASIS FOR ESTIMATE. The introduction of the wages tax in New Zealand and the fact that the yield from hundreds of thousands of wageearners presents material for an extensive survey of individual wealth has enabled the Government Statistician to estimate annual private income in New Zealand at £109,000,000. The estimate is put forward with the explanation that it is not claimed to’be’more than a fairly rough approximation. The survey shows that wages and salaries apart from the exempt earnings of relief workers and domestic servants provide about £60,500,000 of the total,, private income. Income other than wages and salaries which is subject to the emergency charge accounts for £25,500,000. The Government Statisticians method of using the unemployment taxes in computing aggregate private income in the Dominion is the subject of a review in the latest issue of the Abstract of Statistics. It is stated that the figures for 193132 do not permit of such close estimation as will be, possible in future years. The difficulties'associated with the first year’s operation of the emergency taxes are mentioned as obstacles to a very calculation.

. ■ The charge on wages was only in operation during the last eight months of the year under review, and in this period £490,000 was. collected in wages tax. After making .allowances for a time lag in payment the total wages bill for 12 months is put down at approximately £60,000,000. Income otherthan wages up to March 31,1932, yielded £220,006 in emergency tax. Allowance has bean.made in the calculations. for the fall in income due to the Arbitration Court’s general order for the 10 per cent. cut. Since this covered only 10 months of the year an adjustment had to be,, made in arriving at an estimate covering the full year. INCOME FROM WOMEN. The Government Statistician says that it proved - difficult to assess income other than from wages for women in receipt of less than £250 from all sources. The estimate of private wealth, based on the probate system, shows that women own one-fourth of the total private -lyealth of the Dominion. Much of this is revenue producing, (either from business or investment), but the difficulty is to estimate the amount of such revenue and to apportion it between t women in receipt of more and less, respectively, than £250 per annum from all sources. The review adds: “All that can be done at present is to make an arbitrary assessment for non-Maori women in. receipt of under £250, and the amount has been tentatively placed at £5,000,000, thus bringing the incomes of individuals other than Maoris up to £30,500,000. ' “In the case of Maoris, a basis of calculation lies in the fact that the Maori population is nearly 5 per cent, of the non-Maori. But it is probable that the revenue-producing wealth of Maoris is proportionately less than that of Europeans, and 3J per cent, seems a fair allowance, income of Maoris other than from wages being thus estimated at £1,000,009. “Company income assessable for income tax was returned at £19,000,000 for the year £1930-31, and a 15 per cent, reduction on this would indicate £8,500,000 for 1931-32. Of this, approximately £2,000.900 would be paid in income tax, and would thus not be included in incomes paying the emergency charge. Probably, however, the bulk of the remaining £6,500,000 would be distributed, and it seems proper to assume thht payments to reserves, etc., would be only £1,000,000, which with the £2,000,000 paid in income tax would bring undistributed - company income to £3,000,000.” Details of the calculation showing how the aggregate of £100,000,000 is made up are as follow: —

Subject to emergency charge— Wages 60,500,000 Other income 25,500,000 Wages of exempt relief workers 2,000,000 Wages of domestic servants ... 1,000,000 “Other” incomes pf women under £250 5,000,000 “Other” incomes of Maoris .... 1,000,000 Undistributed company income 3,000,000 Pensions under Pensions Act .. 1,700,000 Other exempt income 300,000 £100,000,000