A BUDGET SPEECH.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12087, 16 August 1917, Page 4

A BUDGET SPEECH.

MR TALBOT'S VIEWS. [Fr.on Our Correspondent.] WELLINGTON, August 15. Though tho Budget was a st"pcndous one, said Mr Talbot, in 'th 0 course of his speech in the Financial Debate tonight, its record figures would have been eclipsed if tho war went on next year. Whatever one might think of the National Government as a whole, he hoped the Minister of Finance would be in the Cabinet next year to again pull tho country throuh difficult times. Up to tile presenib we had not taken enough of tho immense sums which had come into tho country by way of increased prices of produce. Tho war could not bo financed by a conjurer's trick. Taxation, moreover, was the remedy for extravagance, and the greater portion of the cost of Itho war ought to be financed out cf revenue. A distinction ought to be made between earned and unearned incomes. Graduation ought not to stop at £6-100. It was assented that a £SOOO farm formerly paid 8s 10d per cent, whereas it now had to pay 14s per cent, though at tho extreme value of £192,000 the percentage actually decreased. The Minister of Finance had quoted figures showing a progressive increase, but they included income tax. He favoured a level land tax exempting mortgages, and having a stiff graduation at the higher values, reaching a confiscatory level at a good deal below £IOO,OOO. In Canterbury over 300,000 acres of Crown land were coming in during the year, and he hoped, an independent commission would be seifc up to lay out tho division lines. The tax on tea was a rather small way of raising revenue, especially m view of the high cost of living. This was not making the. strongest bear the burden of taxation. Although not in favour of a prices it ax, he would rather see it go on mutton and wool than. 0:1 ten. Though the Government seemed always (to take the line of least resistance, there should be greater taxation of luxuries. The beer duty had not yielded satisfactory results. The "anti-shouting" legislation was a dead letter. Tho tax of 5d a gallon ought to be increased to a shilling. As a measure of economy and to help farmers short of labour, the Government ought noli; to bold Territorial enmps during tho remainder "of the war.