BLOW TO INDUSTRY

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21242, 12 October 1940, Page 9

BLOW TO INDUSTRY

EXCESS PROFITS TAX ALARM OF MANUFACTURERS <By Telegraph.—Press Association) WELLINGTON, Friday ; “The New Zealand Manufacturers’ i Federation views with considerable • | alarm the passing of the Excess Pro- - fits Tax Act,” says a statement : I issued today by the federation. “This i legislation is felt to be a definite - blow to the maintenance of produc- • lion in industry and to the further 1 development of industry. i j “This latest blow by the Minister • iof Finance, coming on top of some ! aspects of the recent compulsory » loan scheme, has caused consterna- ‘ tion among manufacturers, both 1 large and small, from one end of ' New Zealand to the other. No one [ will cavil at a tax on profits which - ! are directly attributable to exploi--2 j tation of any situation caused by the ‘ ! war. However, when the Minister of Finance indicated in the House on 1 Tuesday nigh-t that this bill provided for more than a war profits tax and was really another form of taxation on all profits, industrialists naturally came to view it with grave concern. In its present form it is felt it Will tend to curtail efforts toward increased production and will render further expansion of industry impossible because of lack of finance. “The federation intends while Parliament is adjourned to make a careful study of the likely actual effects of the new Act on the business of its members, and to submit to the Government a memorandum covering its views and suggestions 1 for the amelioration of many injus- ' tices which it is felt are likely to 1 I arise out of the Act in its present 1 form.”