INCREASE IN PRICES

Taranaki Daily News, 8 November 1935, Page 10

INCREASE IN PRICES

EXCHANGE AND SALES TAX. MR. FINNERTY’S ARGUMENT. In 1931 it cost £214 to retail in New Zealand goods costing £lOO sterling at the factory in Britain; to-day with the effect of exchange and sales tax the tost retail in New Zealand had risen to £268 17s. Those figures were given as an illustration by Mr. C. R. Finnerty, Democrat candidate for Stratford, during an attack at Tarata last night on the high exchange rate and sales tax. . He went on to give the following table to explain where the extra cost arose:—

1931 1934 Factory cost, London, sterling £100 £100 Freight, etc £15 £15 £115 £115 Exchange — £28 15 C.i.f. (N.Z.) £115 £143 15 Customs duty at 40% .. £44 £44 Sales tax — £11 8 Wharfage, etc. £2 10 £2 10 Total landed cost £161 10 £203 13 Plus 33 1-3% profits etc. £52 10 £64 4 Retail price £214 £268 17 “The increase due to exchange and sales tax is £54 17s,” Mr. Finnerty said.