HEAVIER TAXES IN 1930 BUDGET.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19046, 15 April 1930, Page 10

HEAVIER TAXES IN 1930 BUDGET.

MR SNOWDEN EXPLAINS CAUSE OF DEFICIENCY. (United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) (Received April 15. 1.45 p.m.) LONDON, April 14. There was in the House to-day more than the ordinary tenseness that pre cedes the Budget. It was Mr Snowden’s second Budget, but the last time the task was easy. This time he faced a deficit. Not only was the floor crowd ed, but all galleries were packed also. Something drastic was expected. The secrets were so carefully guarded, that usually well-informed circles were ignorant.

Would Mr Snowden show himself to be a bold, imaginative chancellor? Would he rise above Party ? These were the questions which were uppermost when Mr Snowden entered the House at 3.30. Instantly a wave of sympathy went out to him. His spinal affliction gives him much pain and makes him walk slowly and stiffly. The Chancellor is universally liked, and when he entered, walking with the aid of two sticks, the Conservatives were willing at heart to cheer with his Labour supporters. Mr Snowden spoke for an hour and three-quarters. He passed through the ordeal wonderfully, as a physical effort. The lucidity of his exposition speech was as admirable as the Budget was at once provocative, commonplace, mechanically efficient, uninspired, drasi tic, but unimaginative. One great surprise was the reimposition of sixpence income tax. Few speculators took this into consideration. Across the gloomy landscape of increased taxation Mr Snowden cast a few fitful gleams of humour. A shout of jubilation followed the announcement of the retention of the M’Kenna duties. J “ Take care,” retorted Mr Snowden grimly, “ I may change my mind yet before Parliament is finished.” Mr Lloyd George and Mr Churchill warmly congratulated the Chancellor when he resumed his seat. Mr Philip Snowden said that the financial year ending on March 31 closed with an actual deficit of £14.500,000, instead of the estimated surplus of £4,000,000. Revenue fell short of the estimate by £11,750.000. There were deficiencies on the spirit duty of over £1,400,000 and on the beer duty of nearly £1,800.000. The sugar duty was nearly £1,600,000 short. On the other hand, tobacco duties continued to show their good

record, yielding a surplus of £2,800,000. Income tax, yielding £237,500,000, was £2,000,000 below the estimates, though it showed an advance on the yield of previous years if the various changes in the rate of the tax were taken into account. So far, therefore, as income tax might be taken as the barometer of the nation’s prosperity, one was entitled at least to say that industry, as a whole, had continued to hold- its own. The surtax was £1,500,000 below the t estimates. Stamp duties .owing to the decline in Stock Exchange transactions, fell short of the estimate by the large sum of £5,250,000. With regard to expenditure, Mr Snowden said that the Ministry of Labour required a supplementary estimate of nearly £7,750,000. On other services there was a saving of about £1,000.000. It was thus that the total expenditure exceeded the estimates by £6,750,000. Mr Snowden estimated the total expenditure for the current year at £782,000,000. .He estimated revenue, on the basis of existing taxation, at £739,750,000. The difference which he had to make good was over £42,000,000.

Mr Snowden announced the changes in taxation by which he proposed to raise this amount. The standard rate of income tax would be increased by 7d to 4s 6d in the pound. Small incomes, however, would still pay only 2s on the first £250 of taxable income, as at present, so that three-quarters of the income tax payers would not be affected. The surtax would be increased. The increase in the initial rate of the surtax would be from 9d to Is in the pound, and on incomes in excess of £50,000 a year it would be from 6s to 7s 6d. With regard to death duties, he proposed to amend the existing scale by increases of from 1 per cent to 2J per cent on estates of from £120,000 to £250,000, and to increase the scale gradually from £250,000 to reach the rate of 50 per cent on estates of £2,000,000. The duty on beer would be increased by the equivalent of Id per gallon, which was too small to justify any alteration in the retail price. Regarding safeguarding duties, the Chancellor of the Exchequer said that these duties were not primarily revenue duties, and under the Acts imposing them four of them were due to expire this year, namely, the duty on lace on June 30 and the duties on cutlery, gloves and gas mantles on December 31. He proposed to allow these duties to continue till their respective dates, but not to renew them. The consequential loss to revenue would be £521.000 this year and £823,000 in a full year. In regard to the M’Kenna duties of 33 1-3 per cent on imported motor-cars,

clocks, watches, musical instruments and cinema films, Mr Snowden said that he regretted that the financial position would not permit him to carry out this year the Government’s pledge to remove all existing fiscal duties, but it was the Government’s intention to do so before this Parliament ended. Mr Snowden added that the Government intended to levy a contribution on land valuer,. The first essential step was to prepare a valuation list, which must take some time. He proposed to nrovide for valuation in a separate Bill. Regarding the position of the National Debt, Mr Snowden said that, during the past financial year, the total dead-weight debt had been reduced from £7,500,000.000 to £7,469.000,000, ami the floating debt had been reduced from £837,000.000 to £737.000,000, which was the lowest finance recorded since Ihj war.