BUDGET CRITICISED.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11482, 2 September 1915, Page 2

BUDGET CRITICISED.

1 1 —^ : , TAXATION PROPOSALS DISCUSSED • j CANTERBURY MEMBERS HIT OUT. \ j .'KppHa.l to " St4»r.") WELLINGTON, Sept.et.nber 1. :■ Tho debate on the National Budget was resumed this afternoon by Mr " M'Oombs, xvlio delivered some severe ' criticisms upon it from tho Labour . point of view, lie declared that out , of tho two millions of taxation required for increased nreds the Maw«ey-Wanl " Government proposed to raise le*,* than 0110-third from laud and income las. i It was proposed to raiso the hulk of I the money through the Custom?; and ' excise duties, and by extra profits to lie extracted out of the people from three very valuable services, the post ' office, telegraphs and railways. He had ' searched iu vain for any indication that would load him to believe that the Government in power intended to carry out its promises to reduce the cost of living for tin*, small householder. It ! was true there were some proposals, hut they wore incfTeetive proposals, and . were more than oounterbalancd by the i extra taxation proposed to be put on j the people. WHY KEROSENE INSTEAD OF LAND? In his opinion the Budget contained statements calculated to unfairly hold up the price of flour. If allowance was made for importations of flour ho estimated that the available supply j equalled eight and three-quarter million j bushels of wheat to meet the m-eds jof this country for 14£ months. ! viz., from the middle of November till • the harvest came in. The actual needs of the country during that time equalled seven and three-quarter million bushels, so that w© had an excess of two months' supplies. It was a serious thing that the Government, which should aim at- keeping down the'cost of living, should publish authoritatively some statements which would have such a bad effect in preventing the redaction ot prices. Hp contended that a good' deal more could have been raised oy land and income tax than was proposed to be raised, and had it been raised the impost of a tax on kerosene would have been unnecessary. (Hear., hear.) The value of large landed estates in the past six years had increased from fiftyeighty millions to eighty-seven millions. The increased tax on these people represented. about £lO per annum out of the additional interest of £'2ls, a miserably inadequate demand upon them. A SERIOUS BLOW. Mr M ! Comixs expressed the opinion that a very serious blow was being 1 struck at a very useful public service j by the proposed increased postal rates. i lie did not believe the increased tax would result in an increased revenue. ; but that it would merely result in a restricted use of the service by the j people. The same thing applied to the proposed railway rates. Again the irn--1 position of an added tax on kerosene and motor spirit would bo distinctly unfair to the people of tho country who had to depend on kerosene and motor spirit for light and for motive power for traction engines, milling machines and: other necessary machinery, wlr.lt> fishermen and all other small people I iv on Id suffer very seriously by the impost on motor spirit. Surely a National Government pledged to reduce the eost of living should not contemplate what palpably meant actually increasing the cost of living. The .National Government was giving powers to local bodies to raise moiiey for carrying on municipal enterprises, yet were putting; obstacles in the way of such enterprises being carried out. Wov.ld not the raising of two millions on the * local market by the Government mean > that municipalities would, if they needed money, have to pay largely increased rates of interest. MR WITTY'S TAXATION VIEWS. Mr Witty wa.s-.the next speaker. He complimented the Minister of Finance upon the Budget. It was the voice oi Jacob which read the Budget, but when it came to he studied one could see in it the band of Eseu. (Laughter.) Die .Budget was on the whole very I good. "Discussing finance, Mi \Vitty compared the position four years ago, when there was a surplus of' a million pounds, with that to-day, when the surplus was £72,000, a surplus which would have disappeared altogether if every debt had been paid. Next year 71.1,000 would have to be made up. ?nd the country was asked to do wnhout luxuries. * That was right and proper, but what was the Government itsoit doing? Expenditure was increasing enormously in uearly every department, of State. Thia sort, of thin" should not be when he people of the country were being taxed to an unusual extent for special purposes. He was glad to find the bur dens of the Minuter of Defence being shared by the Miuiscer or Munitions. The latter, however, required to have Skilled advice oil clothing and footwear, because it came, next in import■inee to food, and he_feared there had been exploitation in this respect. Surely if the super tax on land was not intended as a bursting up tax, valuable town lands, as well a:s those in the country, should have been included. While he approved of sending Mr It. H. Rhodes to investigate the postal and other arrangements conuected with oar men at the front, he thought the Government should have chosen another representative from the Liberal ,v'd<\ such as Mr Ell, an ex-Postmaster-General, to .:<> operate with Mr Rhodes,. NEW TAXATION. If there was one tax more, than another which should be put on it was upon war profit. Ho considered that heavier increases in railway freights; could be paid on wool, butter, cheese and meat, but that the new charges on live stock were too high, seeing that it had to be tracked three times before j being shipjnd as frozen meat. The re- ' suit would be that people would drive stock instead of trucking it. Whyshould the Auckland breviers be treated ko liberally in the new beer taxation P It would hit the southern bee's mora heavily than the iight; northern ales. 1 Sir Joseph Ward: That is not so. ( Mr Wittv declared that Auckland, brewers produced a. light ale which paid lesii duty than the southern product. _ | Sir Joseph Wafd: As a matter of i fact the largest brewer in the south stated quite, the contrary only a few . days ago, j Mr Witty trusted that the kerosene duty would lxj taken off altogether. • petrol was not merely used by motor- ' ists, it was necessary for driving farm motors and fishing boats. Why not ■ place the duty on motor-cars them- j sehesf" Why tax only one sport, racing? Theatres and shows ought ] to pay a tax on every ticket. Cigars should be taxed heavier and also other luxuries such as champagne. Hundreds of young fellows had been rejected for military service because of cigarette smoking. He would discourage this by a heavier tax. Tho National G'aivnet should tackle in a complete and thorough way the question of the cost of living. Another tax ho would impose would be a hea.vy one upon bachelors - r who vem fit to go to the front but had not enlvbed. Those who bad responsibility f / regard to parent* or who had r been vf jected shouJd_ be exempt. i Mr f>tn'ok: Who rejects them? * Mr Witty: Not in the sense the hon. gentleman "has bean rejected. (Laugh- "S ter-1 0