SYSTEM OF TAXATION

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 10, 22 September 1944, Page 3

SYSTEM OF TAXATION

THOROUGH REVIEW ADVOCATED

SUGGESTION BY OPPOSITION

Although the Opposition in its advocacy ol' a thorough review of the system of. taxation, may not have succeeded in making any great impression on the Government, it has served a useful purpose by bringing to the notice of the country the existence of many undesirable features in the law as it stands today. Very properly the Government has endeavoured as far as possible, to » . meet Avar costs from taxation and from the savings of the people, and, as Mr Algie acknowledged, it has largely succeeded. It is true., too ? that the need for heavy taxation has not yet. passed (states the Wellington Evening Post). It is necessary both to enable, the country to meet its commitments without recourse to unsound and dangerous methods of finance and, in the interests of stability, to draw off surplus purchasing power at a time when consumer goods are in short supply. But e.vcn the need for maintaining revenue at a high level cannot be legitimately used, as Government spokesmen have used it, as an excuse for perpetuating obvious injustices and inequalities. Nor is it any answer to the case made out. for reform to say as the Minister of Health (Mr Nordmcyer) sa'ub that the Opposition "is simply giving expression to the sentiments, of big business." In the case made out by Mr Holland and other Opposition speakers the emphasis has been on the injustices suffered by a class of taxpayers who by 110 stretch of the imagination could come within the category of "big business." This attempt by the Minister to question the motives, of the Opposition is no answer to the' clear case made out for the removal of certain anomalies. Post-war Credit System The reply made bj T Mr Nordmeycr to Mr Holland's proposal that some system of post-war credits should be adopted, on the lines of that *ulopted in Great. Britain, Avas unconvincing. Mr Holland suggested that } in view of the fact that there Avas a surplus, of £8,000,000 last year, it should be possible for £5,000,000 of the annual taxation receipts to be allocated to the individual credit of taxpayers Avho, after the A\*ai\ AA'ould be able to get back some of their money. The Minister said that the Government had given consideration to the adoption of such a plan in connection Avith the payment of national securitv taxation but it had

found that the scheme was administratively impossible. The Minister's reasons why the scheme was "administratively impossible*' however, mainly to the lack of a departmental record of individual payment and this could have been corrected in the future if. the Government were really concerned to find a way to overcome the difficulties. The Minister admitted that in income tax post-war credits were administratively but he did not explain why nothing had been done in this direction.

Position of Industry

Linked with this question of postwar credits is the position in which industry lias been placed by the refusal of the Government to give, it any relief from the present heavy burden of taxation in order that it may make plans for meeting the difficulties, of the transition period after the war. In a recent statement the president of the New Zealand Manufacturers' Federation (Mr Matheson) again drew attention to the urgency of the problem. As he made plain_ the manufacturers do not ask for any relief from taxation which would give them an unfair advantage over any other section, but they do ask for an opportunity to make their own unhampered by restrictions, imposed by a Government on whom they may bq dependent for financial assistance.

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