WHERE TAXES ARE

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4868, 26 June 1901, Page 4

WHERE TAXES ARE

HEAVIEST.

It has been said that when a man is unhappily circumstanced he derives a sort of grim satisfaction from the knowledge that there is somewhere another unfortunate whose case is even worse than his own. If this allegation be well founded, tbe English taxpayer, who has been fuming and fretting recently on account of tbe increased burdens placed upon him- f>y the Budget, should feel greatly comforted when he learns that .he is not' taxed anything like so heavily as other Europeans. Take the Italians, for example. Their accumulated tsxes are a positive nightmare. An Italian pays away in taxes 22, per cent, of his earnings, compared with tbe Englishman's 9 3. The population of Italy is 1Q millions lees than that of Great Britain, and yet the income tax in the former country is made to produce as much as in the United Kingdom. An even more striking comparison is that between JSussia and Italy. Kasaia has a population of 93,000,000; Italy has only 30,000,000, and yet the total income tax is the same in both countries. Italy has a debt -of £500,000,000, which is growing at the rate of £14,000,000 a year. The only way the Italians can escape the taxation is to emigrate, and this they are doing in considerable numbers. France has only £20,000,000 more taxes, than this country. Each inhabitant pays lie a year more than anyone lucky enough to be living in the "United ' Kingdom. Moreover, an Englishman's earnings are greater than those of a Frenchman. The latter devotes 13 6 per cent, of his income to maintaining bis country. The German is much better off than his Gallic neighbour. He pays in taxes nearly 30s a year less, or only 10.4 of his earnings. Another proof of the prosperity of Great Britain is that, whereas each subject of the Fatherland contributes £1 a year leßs to the revenue than an Englishman, he really parts with 1 per cent, more of his wages, Hollanders are more heavily taxed than we are, Substantial taxes are imposed on such necessaries as sugar, salt, soap, and beef. The result is that each resident of tbe country of canals must needs set aside 15 1 of his income to meet the requirements of the national expenditure. Although Austria only requires each of her subjects to pay about £1 10s a year, this modest sum works out at a higher percentage of the people's earings than is the case in England. The total taxes of Sussia amount to only £77,000,000. This astonishingly small sum is half that of France. £40,000,000 less than that of the United States, £33,000,000 less than that of Germany, and even £6,000,000 less than that of Italy. But Finland is the paradise of the taxpayer. The Finns pay about 13s per inhabitant. Happy Fins !— • London Mail.'