INCOME -TAX

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLI, Issue 20445, 16 June 1936, Page 8

INCOME -TAX

“GOING TO GET A GOOD . WHACK”

MR FORBES MAKES A PREDICTION

By Telegraph—Press Association CHRISTCHURCH, June 15.

More than 300 Canterbury supporters of the New Zealand National Party, including representatives of all the electorates in Canterbury and on the West Coast, this evening endorsed the action of the recent conference . in Wellington which formed the party and undertook "enthusiastically to work for its success at the next general election.” The meeting was addressed by the Leader of the Opposition (Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes) and by Messrs S. G. Holland and H. S. S. Kyle, members of Parliament. Mr Forbes said that the utmost unanimity prevailed among members of the conference in Wellington which set up a permanent national party. Under the Coalition it had not been possible to obtain the same organisation. He spoke of the economy measures the Coalition had to introduce and all members of the Government were aware that this did not make the Government popular. However, they believed that no right thinking citizens would have wished the Government to sidestep what was done as a national duty. The electors declared that they did not like economy, and did not like people who put economy into effect. “Sky the Limit” “Now we have a party in power which is prepared to go to the other extreme,” said Mr Forbes. “It is prepared to spend—the sky is the limit. It is not concerned with the question of who is to provide the money. Their first consideration is whether there is a demand for expenditure. Cost comes after.” With its control of the Reserve Bank the Government had the power of inflation and control of currency. Mr Forbes continued. It had undertaken a programme of extensive public works, and it had bought all the dairy produce in the Dominion. “We have come up against a state of affairs which we could never have dreamed of,” said Mr Forbes. We cannot have things which cost money without having to pay for them, and the Bill for all this will have to be met. Without setting myself up as a prophet, I can say safely that income tax is going to get a pretty good whack. These men claim that they at least have courage. There is such a thing as the valour of ignorance, and it is easy to conceive their rushing in and doing things that must be disastrous to the country. The Government, he said, had no regard for the cost and no regard for the consequences.