NO DESIRE TO DRAG MONEY OUT OF PEOPLE

Chronicle (Levin), 7 September 1946, Page 7

NO DESIRE TO DRAG MONEY OUT OF PEOPLE

-Press Association

Mr> Nash Winds Up Budget Debate In Honse

By Telegraph-

WELLINGTON, Sepi. 6. . "Tlie Leader of the Opposition has said that I was out of touch with the country because I had been away so ■ inuch. Aetuaily I was away 103 days, ' ' said the Minister of Finance when replying to the Budget debate m the iiou.se of iiepresentativea this after noon. Mr. NaSli added that he couid imagino what the Opposition would have said if throughout all the conferences of the type he attended, New Zealand had had no representation. If New Zealand was to have a Government w hich would do its job internationally, it had to have represeutatives to go away.

Mr. Nash said the Opposition was L right fully disappointed in the Budget uccause it was honest, straight forward and ciean and without any electioneermg. It had done everything that it cuuid to help the family man. The uorker of this country was level headed and could not be gulled and he knew tuai in the long run it was production that inattered. The leader of the Op-= positiou was vicious and misleading when he claimed' that departmental expenditure was revoaled in the Budget to have inereased b,y £43,000,000. The Budget had shown there was an im creiue in anuuul appropriations of £43,UUOjO'iU iiut the Budget also stated^ that £19,730,1)1)0 was for war expenditure. 1'here was also the suin of £4,143,000 for credits in aid and, said the Minister, it was unfair to tlie country to urge that these credils in aid should be transicrred froin oue proccdure to another, and tiien eritieiso the Uovernment and silv i hat it was mcreasing expenditure

i iv that amuunt. There was the itein of 1 •. ti 1,000,000 niore in the Bociul Security i uud and the leader of the Opposition aad claimed' that that would be ua increase in departmental expenditure. fhere was nolhing irtore misleading. _ Great Interest Shown. The Minister said tliat great interest had beeu shown in the Budget and more ihan oue thousand copies oi it had been Moid. L rouiti be seen on page £0 that the increase in departnientui expendl ture was £5,000,000. The leader oi the Opposition had saitj. that it was not ihe policy of the Nat' ,onal 1'arty to eut wages or social securitv. 1 f tliat vvcre tlie ease then tlie .sulioual l'arty would have to maintain ihe present position whieli tliey had de-. scri.aul as inilationary. ilr. Nash sait) lIio t P vcnment 's social security policy hau a'\. ava been that half of the ro-' \ enue ro cn ired to meet ueneiits, should , ume f roni the Consoiidated Fund anu the remainder by the flat charge. The position was near that point now. Mr. Xash said he was worried evcry timo tlie Opposition said they would not inteifere with social security. The man who was always protesting his honesty was the man who had to be watohed. Opposition voices: YVe are watching vou. Mr. Nash said the leader ot the Opposition had expressed conceru beeause ihe vulue of import licences issued £1UU,UUU,UUU — exceeded the amount of our sterJtng balant-es but the Leader oi , he Op]iosition i'ovgot that we wero iedeuisliing chose baJances by export as '.a]>idly as we depleted them by imxiorta. As iniports became more freelv avaiiable lite sterling balances would de dine but that would be puke satisfaclory. II had been aileged frpm the .Opposition benehes that oue individual .could import a million pounds ' worth of goods if he could obtain a licence. Mr. \ash said any individual who could inv oort csscntiai goods would be given a licence but no person would get a licence to im[)ort a million pounds worth of luxurv goods. About Car Imports. Questioned about car imports, ikt. Xaki said licences had been issued for ihe importation of £4,00U.»0U worth oi cars and if necessary licences would t»e inereased, although oue man who wauttHl to import built-up English cars. had been refused a licence. Far licences alreadv exceeded the 1^8 car imports. Mr. "Nash said car snp]dies were st'ill rest ricted al the source and if New /ealand were to importunate. for large quantities we might drive up tlie pnce to our own disadvantagc. . Answering a suggestion by the Leaacr of the Opposition tliat taxation coula

have been further reduced had the Government not devoted a large sum to j piaying off the overseas debt, Mr. Nash said it would have been unfair to Britain not to have paid oll £22,500,000 owing under a memorandum of security, for the cost of the New Zealand Divi sion overseas. To have left that debt outstanding would have been to further restrict the living standards of the hard pressed British people. Mr. Nash said the Government had no desire to drag money out of the people and if the .tinve came wheh, after meeting all commitments, especially the social services, taxation could be further reduced, then the Government would not hesitate to .remit further taxes. Mr. Nash said various Opposition inembers, during the debate, had suggested tax feductions of various hinds which, if all were earried out, would tnean a remission of £50,000,01)0 taxa- | tion. It was absolute tosh to think j sucli reductions could be niade witlioul I prejudieing social security and otherj expenditure. j Mr. Nash said the fact that not all jiersons of wealth sujiported the Opposi- j tion was shown by letters he had re- 1 veived recently. 6ne from a man who j ■was a leading manufaeturer in the j Uominion of an essential commodity, j praised the Budget, adding: l'You did j better for all of us tlian 1 thought you could." Another leading manufaeturer had written in similar vein. ! • Tax Versus Subsidy Alr. Nash, rebutting a suggestion tliat J ihe remission of saies tax ou clothingj

would be offset by the removal oi sun- | sidies, said tlie estimated reductrons j tli rough tlie abolitiou of the saies tax,; were: — Apparel, £1,300, UUU; iqotwear, £000,000; piece goods, £000,000. Tlius the total saving to the public thruugh the abolition of the tax would be £2,700,000 whoreas the amount allowed for subsidies this vear was only £500,000. Thus the saving should be £2,400,000. It was, however, possible that on some particular items the subsidv might be greater than the amount of saies tax to be remitted and in tuai event some adjustnient would be neces

sary. There had been some yriticism oi'i Government menibers for comparing j the Government prior to 1035 with im | Labour Government. What-else could j tliev have done? Alr. W. Sullivan: It suits you best. | Mr. Nash said that ohler people knew ) tlie liell they went through in tliose : years. If they believed in the private I ownersliip of the moana of production, | distribution and exi-hange, then they could not avert another 1029-35. The j Opposition 's policy Avould inevitabh ; bring the country to disaster and dis- j tress. Mr. Nash spoke for 1-1 hours and concluded at 3.35. Land and Income Tax Bill Thc liouse then proceeded to the scc- ; ond reading discussion of the Land and | tnconie Tax (annual) Bill and Mr. Nash! said all the Bill did was to lix the raio i for land and income tax for the curreut linancial year. Mr. Iv. J. llolyoake said the time had J conie for a coiuplete overhaul of the ! system of taxation. What was wanted1 was an equitable basis on which taxa • tion would be borne equally by all seeLions of the cqmmuiiity. Ti. Nash, replying to the di-wussioii. Said the experieaee of the pay-as-you-earn system of income tax in Britain and Australia had been that it was very , diflieult to operate. The form used iu , Australia was extremely complex and j in Britain, which was the most com- J petent country in the world- for jmblic j admiiiistration, millions of pounds oi j tax had been written off because of thoj impossibility of checkiug returns put' in by taxpayers. Mr. Nash said anyj cliaiige in that diiection in New Zoa- j land would require a stall' at least i double the present oue. Ile realised . that the present sys.tem whereby tluy tax was eollected eleven mouths after; it i'ell due, inevitabiy caused dirliculties ! but he did not think that a satisfuctory way out had yet been found. The Bill was passed and the liouse rose at 4.40 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. Tuesdav when Ihe estimates will be dis-, cussed. i