The Waipa Post. Published on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 1922. WANTED: A BOLD POLICY.

Waipa Post, Volume XXI, Issue 1280, 12 August 1922, Page 4

The Waipa Post. Published on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 1922. WANTED: A BOLD POLICY.

THiE Minister of Finance is likely to derive cold comfort from the report of the Taxation Commit lee, which was submitted to the House of Representatives on Wednesday night. Not only is its recommendations in nfany important respects not unanimous, but the suggestions upon which it has agreed are all in the direction of reducing taxation without giving a definite .indication of how the deficiency in the State’s income thus created is to be made up. Indeed, we have the proposition that . the Government should he content to drift further into debt than maintain the present oppressive rates of taxation. In other words, we are invited to live beyond our pationl means for a few years longer. In support of this statement, the committee reminds us that the present rates of taxat on are a tax on industry and production, both of which lare essential- to the progress and development of the Dominion. To continue th|sie excessive rates will tend to lessen production and consequently the volume of taxation. On the other hand, tha committee is strongly of opinion that a reduction in taxation will attract outside capital to the Dominion, and, (by the general increase in the prosperity of the Dominion and its people' will quickly make up. for any revenue lost by the reduction in the rate. The committee wishes tq emphasise in The most forcible Edanner possible that legislation which .tends to restrict the earning powers of the individual must retard the wealth and progress of the Dominion as a whole. These observations are economically sound, but, before their enforcement, we require the adoption by the Government of a courageous forward policy. The whole trouble is that me war has left on the shoulders of the New Zealand tax-payer an unproductive debt of some £100,01)0,000.- The relal problem to be -sblved is the reduction of the amount of that debt, for which each individual taxpayer is responsible. Two solutions are open to us.. We can, by increasing our production of wealth, increase our capacity to bear the annuli load of taxation ; we can by a rapid addition to our population by immigration, increase the number of taxpayers and so lighten the relative load on those already here. But neither increased production nor immigration on a big scale is possible without a-bold policy of development. Money must be found for railways, roads, hydro-electricity, and also for giving assistance to the new settlers. Such expenditure will increase our nlational indebtedness, but on balance it will pay us handsomely. If. therefore, the Government assent to the committee’s recommendation, and reduce taxation even to the extent of pilig up the deficit for a few years, it must be accompanied by a bold development policy. Therein lies the true hope of permanent relief from taxation which has attained such enormous dimensions as 'to be oppressive.

THE SESSION

THE session wends its weary way, and although the seventh week is nearly concluded, the accomplishments are virtually negligible. So far, the agreement for tariff reciprocity between Australia and New Zealand is the only measure of serious business achieved. But Hansard will, a,s of yore, be a monument to the speech-making powers of our politicians in the last session before the appeal to the electors. The Government practically completed its legis/lative programme for the entire Parliament during last session, so that its proposals are few and far between. Therefore it has acquiesced in thus being “ the electioneering session.” It. has made no effort to check the flood of oratory of a kind which is being duly recorded ' m the official chronicles. Its supper)ers contributed as freely to the discussion on the Address-in-Reply as its opponents did. Moreover, the same performance i.s to be anticipated in the debate on the Budget, with the exception, perhaps, that the futility of the submission of no-confidence motions from the two principal wings of the several Oppositions will not be repeated. By the time that the Financial Debate has come to an end, the members, having addressed themselves to the country on two set occasions, will hardly exhibit any disposition to offer 'any strong resistance to such measures as the Government may' then consider it necessary to bring down. The one desire, begotten of the fact that self-preservation is the first law of nature, will then he to get into the electorates, where opposition candidates! are already actively engaged*

MOTOR LORRY TRAFFIC. THE Minister.of Internal Affairs (Mr Downie Stewart) gave a somewhat cryptic reply in the House of Representatives to a question asked by Mr J. R. Hamilton, M.P., .in regard to mo tod-lorry competition with the railways. Mr Hamilton asked for the early introduction of legislation authorising county councils to impose an increased if not prohibitive tax on motor-lorries carrying goods parallel to the railways. In a.n attached note the member for Awarua suggested that motor lorries should 'be compelled to run only as feeders to tbe railways if the earning capacity of the latter was to be preserved, and county councils spared an enormous expense in repairing damage done to the roads. The Minister’s reply was that the lav/ at present does not fix. a limit to the fee which may be charged by county councils in respect of motor vehicles engaged in heavy traffic or in the carriage of .passengers or goods. Possibly this means that it is intended to impose dome limit. In any case, it is to be hoped that county councils will not accept the Minister’s statement as an invitation to impose penal taxation on motor transport. It is, of course, right that motor-vehicles of all kindd should be fairly taxed for the upkeep of roads, but an attempt to drive heavy motors off the roads by means of penal taxation would be ia policy only worthy of the Dark Ages.