BUDGET STORMILY RECEIVED

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 228, 27 September 1941, Page 5

BUDGET STORMILY RECEIVED

AUSTRALIAN HOUSE MR. FADDEN UNDER LABOUR FIRE (Recd. 5.5 p.m.) Canberra, Sept. 26 The Prime Minister, Mr. A. W. Fadden, was almost continuously under fire from Labour members during his Budget speech and had to appeal to the chairman of the committee far a fair hearing. Mr. Menzies sat in his own room during most of the speech. Although Mr. Curtin declined to comment last night, observers say the Labour attack on the Budget is likely to be based on, firstly, the .proposed increase of Is a week deferred pay for soldiers; secondly, the proposed interest rate of 2 per cent, on compulsory savings; thirdly, taxation of personal exertion on the same scale as income earned from property, and fourthly the proposed compulsory loans by all persons without dependents earning more than £lOO annually.

It. is claimed that deferred pay for soldiers will amount practically Io a compulsory loan to the Government without interest. The interest, rates on compulsory loans is likely to be a major issue. Labour men say that low wage'earners who will be compelled to lend money they cannot afford will receive only 2 per cent, and they claim that low wage earners should receive at least as much a:-;, if not more interest on money I hat private banks receive. Labour has always held that income earned from personal exertion should not be taxed as heavily as income from property. The two Independents, Messrs. Wilson and Coles, either of whom could cause the defeat of the Government in the Labour Budget, attack, declined to comment on the Budget. The National Contribution Scheme means that the total payments to the nation will be the same in every State for Australians earning similar incomes. The national contribution will be assessed ami from this will bo deducted both Federal and State taxes, the remainder being the amount payable as a post-war credit loan. Federal income tax will :ot he increased except on higher income where there will be substantial increases. Federal tax and loan contributions will be deducted weekly from pay envelopes after a date to be fixed.

Commenting editorially, the Sydney Daily Telegraph says the Budget was conceived, shaped and delivered in an atmosphere of grim party political strife which induced the taxpayer to prepare for unimaginable horrors, but the document itself is not o terrible as most of us expected. If the Labour Party believes the Budget to he bad it must convince Parliament and the people by offering alternative detailed proposals.

The Herald says Mr. Fadden’s Budget shows unusual imagination and constructive thought in devising new ways of raising further sums from the public. He has undertaken a huge task in finding a means of meeting the Commonwealth expenditure of £320,000,000. He outlined new burdens to be placed on the public and foreshadowed much more stringent control of our industrial resources, all of which is welcome evidence of the growth of our war work.—U.P.A.