TAXPAYER LEFT WONDERING

Chronicle (Levin), 16 July 1946, Page 5

TAXPAYER LEFT WONDERING

(Speciul Corresnondent).

AUSTRALIA STILL HAS HEAVY BURDEN

Reeeived Arondav, 7.10 p.m. tSYDXEY, July 15. After a first sigh of relief that there sliould be any reductiou of taxes at all, tlie reaetion of tlie average Australian (o .Mr. Cliifley's announcement of a £1 7, 500, 000 cut in income tax, can best be expressed by tlie Cluircliillian maxiiun ':too little and too liite. " It lias not laken liim long to realise that he can still claim with as mueh truth as before, to be Ihe world 's most, beavily taxed citizen. He is puzzled as to wliy, wlien according to Mr. Cliifley's stateinent tlie new financial year will see a reduct ion oi' more tlmn £100., 000, 000 in total expeuditure, only a fraction of flint surn will be passed bac.k to liim. It seem.s axiomatic that if all or most of that £100,000,000 were returned ro the taxpayer who is also the chief spender, il would give an incentive for grealer till-iound iiroduction. The sjPrime Alinister says that with pension concessions and a reduction of Ihe mefins test, Ihe counlry cannot alford to reduce taxes furthor.. At the same time, however, he states that up to tlie ond of last monlh, 450,000 men and women had been released from the ser\ ices and that, despite the fact that n large munber of women and overajge men had withdrawn from the employmenf field, Ihe estimated number of peojile in civilian occupations had riscn by nearly 100,000 I'rom lasl ycar's figi.ure of, 2, 050, opo., Thus it is eqsily seen lliat the Government stands to iose nothing bv its concession to the taxpayer. The average Australian eitizen pavs just over £4!) in income tax. People who are back in civilian occupations from tlie services are alone contributiug over £20,000,000 to cover tlie tax reduction of £17,500,000. A coinptii'ison of taxation vields with (hose of before the war, shows the Australian eitizen only that the immense hurdon is retarding his postwar progress. 1 1 e wants to know why the running expenses of the countrv are four times now what they were in. 1959. It should have been easy to explain that the latest figures which are those for 1915-4(5 contain delayed war expendilure equal to that incurred when the war was a^Jually in progress. He might have been told that the eoming substanlial drop in expenditui'e woiild be (lirect au.d jp.dir.ect.'' • SShb^.h^"tial Aax c o n c essip liff |'" i J ; jhifj c'qu ftdepc e rixt" ibttsJ Instpaddp^A'TiltY^ip .i|ttq'Id •Aittft, although his taxMJl'Pe iueSiJC.p^ 0hi:-tlfe average eleven per cent as from July 1, deductions from salaries will not be (dl'c.ctive before Beptember 1. The surplus he pavs under the weekly pay-as-you-go taxation, will be refunded by the Government when tax assessmcnts are mct some time after June 30, 1947. In other words, he is making the Governinent an interest frce loan which it will hold until the neeessary reliales are made. 1ti tlie following table in whieh the vields for 1938-39, mentioned first, are compared wilh those for 1945-40, the I axpayer has many other points to ques1 ion : — Income tax: £11,882,440, £181,295,135. Excise and customs: £47,(552,3(55, £77,9(50,(509. Saies Tax: £9,5089,334, £33,000,150. Payroll Tax: Nil, £11,499,245. Enlei'lainments tax: Nil, £4,303,885. Estate Dutv: £1,915,352, £3,880,041. ' Land Tax: £1,489,430, £3,782,359. Elour Tax: £1,808,972, £1,779,937. Gift Dutv: Nil, £592,949. Hold Tax: Nil, £383,551. .Miscellaneous: £2,7S0,209, rmdisclosed. Totals: £70,817,108, £318,807,921. Tt is a big hill to he footed by a counlry in whieh there are just "over three million civilian workers.