UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF

Waikato Times, Volume 111, Issue 18642, 21 May 1932, Page 3

UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF

FUNDS AVAILABLE. ADDRESS BY MR J. S. JESSEP. SOME IMPORTANT POINTS. An Important statement was made by the deputy chairman ’°f the Unemployment Board, Mr J. S. Jessep, regarding the finances of the board while addressing a meeting which was called by the WeUlngton branch of the Town Planning Institute to discuss means for a dls . tric !'®£k eTn ® he relief and development ''o b. The reasons why the shilling In the p tax had not Increased the boards finances fourfold were explained by .Mr lI e P expressed the appreciation of the Unemployment Board of the efforts made by the Town Planning institute and thoso associated with it in the preparation of the report made, but said that the suggestion that the subsidy from the board, now applying only to wages, should be extended to cover at least part of the cost of supervision and materials warranted tho opinion that there had not been a full realisation of tho amount of the funds available to tho board or of the calls upon the board for its funds. Danger of Further Taxation. “I want to emphasise,” he • said, “that the funds that are going to those who are unlucky enough to be out of work arc being drawn obviously from those who aro lucky enough to be still in employment, and from no other source, and as you narrow the gap between those in employment and those, who are out of employment. so you automatically reduce the funds available. There are many •traders, shopkeepers, and small farmers who are very nearly on the border, and If through extra taxation we push them over tho border line, then we shall have, not an increased, but a decreased revenue.” Many small shopkeepers. tradesmen, and farmers were in no better position Hi an married men on relief works, he added; in fact, when it was remembered that men who were not on relief works had now do pay Is in the pound on their wages, whereas those on relief work were pacing onlx the levy, the margin between the two was exceedingly narrow. "The constant agitation by extremists might easily result in alienating the sympathy .of the struggling farmer, tradesmen, and shopkeepers." said yii- Jessep. "Ninety-live per cent, of the unemployed are Our ordinary level-headed fellow citizens who have bitten on evil days. Hie remaining 5 per rent, are taking advantage of the distress to cause turmoil and strife nnd make the whole position, both to those on relief and those who are supplying Hie relief, worse Ilian it is to-day. The hoard's constant endeavour is to seek to get industry reestablished. It \wmld he impossible to do this if the measure of relief became Midi that it verged upon the position at xvliieb ” a might expect.

industry to commence to funotlon. “A very erroneous Impression has gained wide oredence with the pubbo that the increase In the wages tax from 3d to is in the £ means that the board’s income has been quadrupled. That suggestion is very wide of the mark indeed. In addition to the loss of the subsidy from the consolidated fund, which not only doubled the lncomo from the wages tax when it was at 3d, but also doubled the income from the levy, there is a very serious loss owing to the fall in Incomes generally. “Altogether for a portion of last year the 3d in the £ tax on wages and income produced at the rate of £900,000 per year, it is patent to everyone that the Is will not produce four times that amount. Thousands of our citizens contributed heavily last year on the basis of their previous year’s income. This year they will not be called upon to pay as much, although the basis is so much higher. The estimate for this year, prepared by tho same people who so accurately estimated the income last year, is that the total income of the board will not exceed from £3,500,000 to £,750,000. Inoreasod Demands and Taxation. "It is an Important point which Is continually asked as to what is a fair thing to pay a relief worker in the way of wages; but it is also an important question how much more In the way of 'taxation can the public stand without precipitating absolute ruin. If all the advocates for increased expenditure, increases in allocations, nnd increases In wages to relief workers would simultaneously admit the additional expenditure and advocate a proportionate Increase In tho taxation, it would he much easier to deal with as far as the board is concerned. Our position is that a fund is created, and, as I liavo pointed out, the maximum amount in that fund will ho approximately £3.500,000. We can only distribute that amount in the most equitable fashion, and at the same time in such a way as to ensure that some proportion of it can come back again I o I tic country in Hie way of increased produelion. “I reiterate," said Mr Jessep, “that when responsible people insist that allocations must be increased and relief extended to within measurable distance of that earned in ordinary industry, then such responsible persons must understand quite clearly that they are, in effect, asking that Hie present unemployment tax of Is in the pound be increased. There is a point neyond which taxation cannot go, the source of supply must inevitably be dried up.”