THE BUDGET

Wairarapa Daily Times, 29 September 1937, Page 5

THE BUDGET

OUISTIMS mis NO TAXATION CHANGES. Salient points from the Budget introduced in the House of Representatives last night by the Minister of Finance, Hon. W. Nash, are as follows: — Surplus of £472,000. Thje financial year ended 31st March last finished with a surplus of £472,000. Revenue amounted to £31,147,000, and expenditure to £30,675,000. Estimated Surplus. The estimated surplus for the current financial!year is £50,000. Revenue is estimated to produce £34,778,000, and expenditure is estimated to involve £34,728,000. Unemployment Taxation. Hxation revenue collected last, year for unemployment purposes amounted to £4,224,965. Of this sum £440,562 was received, from the registration levy, £2,590,832 from the wages tax, and' £1,193,571 from the special charge on other income. Public Works, Provision is made for an expanding publie works programme, involving an expenditure this financial year of £17,367,000. This is, to be partly financed from revenue and the balance from investments of the Post Office Savings Bank and other departmental sources. Government Offices. Government offices are to be grouped around Parliament Buildings on modem town-planning principles. Legislation dealing with the acquisition of the land necessary for this purpose is to be introduced this session. '■ ■ Back-blocks Roading. A programme of roading for backblock areas has been prepared. Public Debt. Thrfcpublie debt for last year shows a nefttierease of £5,109,102, making a total of £287,670,200'. Overseas indebtedness decreased by £2,675,700. Higher Expenditure. Increased expenditure this financial year is mainly in respect of social services, defence and general administration. Social services are estimated to cost £12,168,000, compared' with £9,913,000 expended last year. Education. A sum of £3,745,000 is provided for the education vote, representing an increase of £349,900 on last year’s expenditure, and £950,000 over the amount spent in 1935-36. Defence. An amount of £1,600,000 is allocated to provide for the defence of the Dominion. This represents an increase of £585,000. Customs Duties. Customs duties are estimated to return a total of £10,500,000. This represents an increase of nearly £1,000,000 compared with the actual receipts last year. Income Taxation. InrajMe tax, the second largest source of is estimated to produce £7,500,000, compared with ' £6,619,000 . received last year. Sales Tax. Sales tax, now one of the major items of revenue, is expected to produce £3,650,000. Land Tax. Land tax is to bo assessed on the same basis as last year, but provision is to be made for relief of proved hardships. Unaltered Taxation Rate. • No alteration in the rate of taxation ' is contemplated this year.