The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. MONDAY, JUNE 24, 1946 STAGGERING TAXATION

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 90, 24 June 1946, Page 4

The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. MONDAY, JUNE 24, 1946 STAGGERING TAXATION

NEW Zealand Budget figures for the year that ended on March 31 contain only one serious discrepancy when the estimates are compared with the expenditure- In the War Expenses account expenditure was less by £4,604,000 than the estimate made by Mr Nash in his addendum to the Budget It will be recalled that after last year's estimates had been prepared the war ended, and in the belief that expenditur could be reduced, a request was made for a recast of the estimates in the War Expenses Account. Mr Nash surprised the country by producing a new set of figures showing that war costs in the year that has now passed would increase instead of decreasing. Few expect the present Governmentto make any substantial reduction in domestic expenditure, in spite of the fact that in this department last year the public paid £48,371,000 in taxation. If the £51,417,000 paid in war taxation and £15,286,000 paid in social security levies are,added it will be found that the one and threequarter million people of New Zealand paid more than £115,000,000 in taxation last year. Faced with this huge sum, it is little wonder that Mr Nash expects to be able to produce an "election winning" Budget this year. What the public is asking, however, is why relief could not have been given earlier—relief that wouid have allowed industry to hasten the process of recovery, supply the shortages of consumer goods and combat inflationary tendencies. Apart from social security, more than half the taxation last year was for war purposes. This included £21,738,000 in national security tax, £8,822,000 in income tax and £10,559,000 in sales tax. The total of sales tax for all purposes, incidentally, was more than £15,000,000, which was a direct addition to the cost of living. Income tax for all purposes totalled £34,688,000. What Mr Nash will make of these figures in the next few months will be of close interest to everyone in the Dominion. It can be imagined that he will say that heavy remissions of taxation will increase inflation unless increased production of goods can account for the increased spending power. If this is so he will be called upon to demonstrate that, in control of the taxation weapon, he has given all the encouragement that could have been given to the production of goods to refurnish bare markets.