TAXATION.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18084, 5 June 1923, Page 7

TAXATION.

SIR JOSEPH WARD’S CRITICISM. • MR MASSEY IN REPLY. PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM WELLINGTON, Monday! A report of a speech by Sir. Joseph Ward in the south, containing criticisms regarding trxation, were referred to by the Prime Minister. “Sir Joseph Ward’s statement is misleading anil incorrect,” said Mr Massey. “So far as the income tax in England is concerned, he says it is 4s 6d. That is right, but the super-tax is 6s, and has never been reduced since it was imposed during the war, so that the total British income tax ’now is los Gd, with the exception of a reduction which has been recently indicated by the Prime Minister (Mr Baldwin), though, if my memory serves me correctly, there is Is in the £ corporation tax in addition.

“Our maximum income tax, it is quite true, is 7s 4d in the £ at present. 1 propose to ask Parliament to reduce taxation by two millions during the next session. We shall be able to do that and the income tax will come down to approximately 5s in the £, though I cannot say to a farthing at the moment, nor shall I be able to do so lor some weeks to come.

“As for the increase since the war, Sir Joseph Ward seems to imagine, or tries to make the public believe, that on the day tho Armistice was signed everything was paid off. As a matter of fact wo had practically all the cleaning up to do after that date —£36,000,1)00 worth of liabilities directly arising out of the war; £9,000,000 for discharged soldiers’ housing and settlement, £23,000,000 for purposes which come under the heading ‘Public Works.’ As for the surplus which was invested m London when Sir Joseph resigned from the National Government, that, along with tho £9,000,000 already referred to, was used for soldiers’ housing and settlement, and if £17,000,000 had not been available it would have been almost impossible to have gone on with those two purposes, as money for borrowing; was not available in London or New Zealand at that time. “I am quite satisfied that soldiers housing and settlement will be a very useful asset to this country in years to come. It is paying nominally 4-J- per cent., of which i por cent, goes for administration. “As for penny postage, that has been arranged, and tlic public will bo notified in tho Budget of the date upon which it will come into operation. The plain truth is that the finances of. New Zealand are in a better position to-day than in any other country in the isntisn Dominions, and if he will <ilk'J' 1110 j 0 say so, Sir Joseph Ward should bo moie careful of his reputation than to make such grossly incorrect statements as, somo of those for which be has late y been responsible.”