The Wanganui Chronicle TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1934. UNEMPLOYMENT FINANCE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 209, 4 September 1934, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1934. UNEMPLOYMENT FINANCE

QNE o£ the satisfactory features of the unemployment problem is that it shows signs of declining; Mr. Coates was able to state during the course of his financial statement that the workers who now represent a charge on the fund total 60,000, which “represents a decrease of 9000 over the corresponding date last year. In previous years the number of unemployed commenced to rise in March with the cessation of seasonal employment. No such movement has taken place this year and, as a matter of fact, the total figures are now lower than at any period since the end of March, 1932.” The Finance Minister anticipates that a further reduction in the number of unemployed will occur with the commencement of seasonal employment in the spring. During last financial year the actual receipts paid into the Unemployment Fund totalled £4,427,000, of which £428,500 was realised by the £1 per head flat levy. £2,892,000 from the tax on salaries and wages, and £1,106,500 from the special charge on other income. The Unemployment Board had a balance in hand of £424,500 at the commencement of the year which, together with taxation and other monies received, had available for the provision of unemployment relief the sum of £4,865,000. Disbursements from the fund during the year totalled £4,243,000, which includes £112,500 for administration expenses. This latter sum represents but 2.65 per cent, of the actual expendiiure. or sixpence in the pound. This expense rate is very satisfactory indeed. The fund is expected to have available for the current year £5.390,000, which is about a million more than the, total available for last year, and as it is also anticipated that the total of the unemployed will continue to decline, various concessions to young persons, to the aged, to womenfolk, and to the unemployed, and also a reduction in unemployment taxation from Is to lOd in the £as from October 1, have been proposed. These concessions will reduce the revenue by £500,000 for this financial year, and by £1,000,000 in a full year. The reduction in the unemployment taxation amounts to £482,000, which exceeds the levy revenue, the latter being but £428,500. The Government has therefore provided the taxpayer with the major concession in reducing the tax from Is to lOd instead of abolishing the levy. The levy is undoubtedly an irksome payment, both for the employers to watch, the workers to pay, and the Government to collect, and its abolition would indeed be welcomed. Nevertheless it must be noticed that the present proposal of the Government’s provides the wage earner with the greater measure of relief. As an example, the following may be cited: A man earning £240 a year has now to pay 240 s in wages tax, but when the reduction is made to lOd after October 1, the concession will amount to 40s, which is exactly twice as much benefit Io him as the abolition of the levy would be. If conditions continue to improve, however, most people would be pleased to see the levy abolished.