Payment of Taxes.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20648, 24 June 1935, Page 6

Payment of Taxes.

By Instalments

Public Agitation In

N.S. W.

(Special to the .** Star.") SYDNEY. June 14. pOR SOME TIME PAST, there has been a public agitation here in favour of paying taxes by instalments. It is argued that this method would be very convenient for the taxpayer, and that it would not cause the State any serious embarassment or any loss. Two distinct schemes have been discussed here. One is the plan already adopted in Victoria, which provides for payments in advance and an adjustment at the end of the financial year. But public opinion here apparently fails to recognise the advantages of this system, and prefers “ straight-out instalments,” which would enable the taxpayer to discharge his liability to the State in three or four fractional parts. Proposal Supported. Some such innovation has been supported here by several influential public bodies—the Taxpayers’ Association, the Local Government Association, the Chamber of Manufacturers—and the presidents and secretaries of these organisations have spoken strongly in favour of the change. For a time it seemed that the Ministers were favourably impressed, but now it appears that Cabins'! has decided definitely against any such proposal. A more or less official statement of the Government’s views has been published by the “Sydney Morning Herald,” and it seems to dispose of the scheme finally. The Government holds that the “ discretionary powers ” now exercised by the Taxation Commissioners are sufficient to protect the average taxpayer. For the Commissioners have made a practice of meeting the convenience of taxpayers by allowing them to pay in instalments, and in some cases by granting postponement for a considerable period. Sufficient Answer. This is regarded by the Government as a sufficient answer to the protest of the president of the Chamber of Manufacturers that the present system “ often dislocates personal finance, and business suffers because of the inevitable tightening up that follows.” Then, from its own point of view, the Treasury argues that the instalment plan would “ involve a loss of revenue for the first year of the operation, *’ for the assessments can not be issued before December or January, and payment by instalments would mean that some of the taxation would still be outstanding at the end of March, and would need to be carried over into the next financial year. Of course, this difficulty would disappear after the first year of operating the new plan. Larger Staffs Necessary. But the Ministers have a number of more cogent arguments at their disposal. The Taxation Commissioners have been consulted and they report that the instalment system “ would entail considerable expenditure in the employment of larger staffs,” also that “it would mean the introduction of an expensive system of book keeping with which the present staff could not cope. In the opinion of Mr McKellar White {president of the Taxpayers’ Association) and Mr A. Bluett (secretary of the Local Government Association), the difficulties are by no means insuperable. But the Premier and his colleagues have evidently made up their minds on the matter, and just now they are taking shelter behind the Taxation Investigation Committee, which has been set up here recently under the control of the Auditor-General, which proposes to simplify our system of taxation and to co-ordinate it with the systems already adopted by the other States and the Commonwealth. Something may come out of all this. But for the moment the outlook seems by no means propitious for those who would prefer to pay their taxes by instalments.