TAXATION

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 12, 5 October 1945, Page 4

TAXATION

Sir—Kindly allow me a little .'.pace to briefly reply to Mr P. Gillespie. He seems to have been too busy pulling cows teats* to notice how the Labour Government has l?cen "milking" him, with its crushing taxation. He says there is taxation in every country. So that if all other nations are fools enough to put up with it, we should do likewise. Well, well, if all the other cow cockies were like him what a time Mr Nash, would have.' He could flop on another dozen millions taxation, and as an artist Mr Gillespie could still paint a rosy picture. I will endeavour to play football with him on his own ground with the public as. referee. Let us take the Labour Party's electioneering pamphlet entitled "Labour's j Afarch to Social and Economic Security" which gives us Labour's principal achievements in eight years. Item one in 'Milestones of Progress. Unemployment banished.' Does your correspondent believe the Labour Government banished unemployment or did a scarcity of labour come back by the war. 1 remember a scarcity of labour in Bill Massey's day due to the Avar, and Bill Mnssey never patted himself on the back for it. Item two and item eleven I will

take together. Number two is 5 National income raised from £104 f OOO - 000 to Number eleven is New Zealand's total wages increased from £65 000 000 to £1559 '9 ' 000 000. So the Labour tas'k masters of economics have more than doubp led the national income and more than doubled the wages in eight years. By the way ? Mr Gillespie, they forgot to mention one item. Seeing they raised the wages as. highi . as the house tops they forgot to mention that the cost of living automatically Jumped as high as the steam from Mt. Ruapehu. By read-" ing your correspondent's letter I really thought that his Party was capable of splitting the atom till 1 got down with pencil and paper to analyse its wonderful achievements. Pound notes as plentiful as strips of old newspaper and as time goes on ? with the Party in power, about a.:s valuable. With the knowledge 3-ou have as an expounder of Labour ideals would it not be correct to say divide by three all these increased figures to arrive at the purchasing power today and being a bit of a bone head myself [ would suggest also that the National Debt which your Party overlooked mentioning should be multiplied by six. While I think of it tell me how those English people jvho you are so anxious to help by without butter 3 r ourself are going to pay for your butler, meat and cheesc if you block with im- ; port controls and tariff walls what . the English people produce and 1 what we need despite the fact that : item eight on your Party's achieve- ; ments says manufacturing industries . in New Zealand have been doubled. You and your Party are very anxious to rehabilitate the soldier ( so while he is away ? you kindly flop a 20 per cent sales tax on all building collect £13 ? 000, 000 in sales tax from his dependants then agree to lend him £1500 to build a home. Very stupid on my part to say that £20 in every hundred is taken out of the £1500 before the piles <go in. By indirect taxation perhaps the soldier does, not notice £300" plucked out of his loan by your Party who like you ar e so anxious. to help and has the term of his natural life to pay interest on goods he has never received. He gets £1200 in labour and materials receives pays interest and' principal on £1500 and your Party gets back £300 plus interest on £1500. (Don't , take my word for it) but the figures in the Official Year Book will prove that Labour has taxed V the workers more than anj' Tory Government that ever sat on the Treasury benches in New Zealand. Yours etc., STAN EVANS.,