THE TARIFF.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 12968, 7 May 1906, Page 3

THE TARIFF.

VARIOUS LINES OF SUGGESTED REDUCTION. PROPORTION OF REVENUE INVOLVED. Perhaps the principal thing Parliament will have before it next season is the Premier's proposal to reduce or remit Customs duties on certain necessaries of life, with the contingent possibility (should the revenue loss be so great as to need off-set) of an increase in the graduated land tax. The far-reaching nature of any readjustment as between the burden of Customs and the tax on land will be realised when it is pointed out that at present Customs supplies over 35 per cent, of the colony's total ! revenue, land tax 5 per cent. This calculation is based on the revenue figures for the year ended March 31st last, announced by the Premier at Rangiora, as follows:

Customs receipts ' ' 2,697,400 Railway receipts ... ... 2,333 t 600 Stamp" receipts 1,199,100 Land tax receipts 385,700 Income tax receipts 261,600 Beer duty receipts 98,100 Registration and other fees ... 100,000 Marine 36,700 Miscellaneous 190,400 Territorial revenue 280,700

£7,583,300 Of course, it is cot to be taken for granted that the Customs reductions will be so severe a strain on the colony as to necessitate the shifting of .their amount, in whole or. in part, upon land. m hat pay or may not be. Land tax is divided into ordinary land tax and graduated; and it is the latter—representing in 1904-5 much less than a third of the total land tax—that the. Premier proposes to increase if there must be increase at all. The relation of the graduated tax (including absentee tax) to ordinary land tax may be gauged from the figures, for 1904-5, which were:—Ordinary land tax, £254,727; graduated, £98,127; total, £352,854, or some £33,000 less than for 1905-6. The graduated land tax for 1904-5 was £4063 less than for the preceding jear; and the last Financial Statement atftbuted 60 per cent, of tiis loss of revenue to evasion by means of family subdivisions by persons holding large estates. So, at the one end of the calculation, we have Customs duties representing over 35 per cent, 'of the total revenue for 1905-6, and at the other end (evaded) graduated land tax, representing in 1904-5 considerably less than 2 per cent, of the total revenue. The next step is to consider what amount of Customs duty is involved; Demands for reduction or remission—putting aside for the moment the agitation for protective or prohibitive duties—have been directed at three classes of goods:—(1) Necessaries •of life, (2) articles used in manufacture, (3) tobacco. Necessaries of ! life may again be subdivided into—(a) foodstuffs, (b) clothing. Customs duties , received on these items, separately and col- | lectively, for the year ended December I 31st, ISOS, are as follows: (1) NECESSARIES, (a) Foodstuffs. Article. Duty. £" Coffee essence 2 025 Biscuits, fancy and other kinds ... 726 ; Biscuits, ship's plain ... ... ,7 Cream of tartar ... ..\. ... 5,850 Fisfc, dried, pickled, salted ... ■ 995 Fish, potted and preserved ... 17,377 Cornflour ... ' .; x ... ... 1,495 Fruits, bottled and preserved ... 7,006' Fruits, dried 41,153 Fruits, fresh 11*002 Gelatine ... ... 1388 Jams and jellies '... 3/7Q9 Milk, preserved 2;625 Onions I^soo Potatoes, other than seed "... 3,'255 Oilmen's stores' ... 1739 Provisions, n.o.e. ... ... ... 2^851 Sauces 2^835 SP"* B - ' 5,101 Vinegar 1064

_,. , £113,703 ±e3, cocoa, and sugar are omitted from the above list, because t£e figures collected concerning them are for the vear ending March 31st last, instead of for that ended December 31st, a quarter's difference. For the purposes of approximate estimate, they may, however, be added to the above, as follows: Article. Duty. _ £ £«"• 526 Oocoa, chocolate, etc. .... ... 6,208 Sugar, molasses, and treacle ... 199,212 „. . £205,946 Giving, with the other foodstuffs, a total annual Customs yield of £319,649. (b) Clothing. . Article. p u t v . £* Apparel, n .o.e, 153,287 Cotton goods. ... 41744 Drapery {including laces and ribbona) ...< ... ... 84,866 Haberdashery ... ... ... -5,306 Hats and caps ...: ... "■--■*.„ 20,684 Hosiery } ... \. 28,875 Linen goods V, '3,416 MSkaety ~ , 15,615 f? 1 " . 29,599 Textile piece goods ... ~. 17,108 Woollen piece goods 82,272 Bocts and shoes 1... 65,699 r.. .'" £548,471 Giving, with the quoted foodstuffs, a total annual Customs yield on necessaries of £868,120. (2) ARTICLES USED IN MANU- ■ FACTURE. * Article. • - Dutv. £ Carborate of soda ... • 653 Bicycle materials ... ... ... 11,381 Automobile materials 1,045 Cork, cut ... ... 2,014 1 Grindery ... 257 Iroaand steel (galvanised, pipes, bar, etc.) „.,' 40,105 Lead (pipe and sheet) 1,260 Leather (excluding chamois) ... 4,002 Leather manufactures ... „. 260 Boot and shoe vamps, uppers, etc 3,403 jkjnen piece goods (forfar, etc) ... 349 :*fa3s , . _ _ _ _ 11>022 oaccharme ... v . - ... 1133 .Sausage skins ... *.. ... 2,459 Stearine „. ... ... 1*134 ; Tinware " '". [". 3*354 Paraffin wax ... „" ... 3*012 ! j, £86,843 ktom the above list are omitted woollen j piece gcods. £82,272 (see "clothing"), I because, while they are raw material to tae tailor and the draper, they also, as manufactured goods, enter into competition W 'a u P? oductsi of on r woollen mills; and other imports are in a similar position. But it is fair to add. to the list some ■ ether items-appearing in the other cream of .tartar "(see "foodstuffsf "£585Q,~ cotton;goods".(re* Qlo'th'ing) "£41,744,-tex-" tile gcods (see.clotting) £17,108, elucose. *£?"*.- : * -total armual;.Custbih> yield oh.'"articles'useC in manufacture"tof>.£ls4;rsfc- ■*»•-■•> •"- :•■.■" -,-1

(3) TOBACCO. Tobacco remains. Our figures are, in tUis case again, not for the year ended December 31st, but for the more recent financial year ending March 31st. Here they are— Article. Duty. £ * Cigars tind snuff 22,320 Cigarettes 103,215 Tobacco, manufactured ... ... 549,533 Tobacco,-unmanufactured ... 1,770 £476,838 To get the total annual Customs duty -involved under all the heads—necessaries., articles used in manufacture, and tobacco—we must first subtract from "articles used" those three items mentioned* as appearing in earlier tables. That reduces for the purposes "of this calculation the total of " articles used " to £90,049. Adding this figure and the tobacco finure (£476,838) to the £868,120 raised on necessaries, we have a total under the three heads of £1,435,007, being the total annual Customs duty on necessaries (foodstuffs and clothing). on art used in. manufacture, and on tobatvo. It has been shown th:t: Cus-tuins duties are over :v third of the vout'iry's total revenue. We now find ilwtt ihe amount con.prised in the four heads taken is over fine-half the total Customs, and nearly onefifth cf the colony's total revenue, while the giaduatod land tax represents less than one-'iftieth thereof. The foodstuffs group alone is over one-ninth the total Customs. —("New Zealand Times.")