WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 605, 7 September 1909, Page 4

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

Concrete, illustrations are always very helpful to a right understanding of economic'questions. The' Attorney-General supplied a,cood one in his address to the Waterside Workers' .Federation on (Friday. He pointed out, what is undoubtedly true, that "at- least a portion" of the very great increase in. the unimproved value ' of, the' 'land in this city of.. :lato years iB due to the growth- of population. / Th6n catoe his illustration: If a Bill proposed by tho English- Government had boen law in < New Zealaud since 1891. ,tlio owners -of , tho land in tlio city of, Wellington would already, or in the near future, havo. paid about million- out of their unearned-iacremcnt,. . There are two lines along which this illustration must be 'developed:, (1) What would have become of that million: if it' had been taken by the'.Government' -in.taxatiori I (2) Where is that million just now, and what is it doing'! As to the fipst';question," it is-pretty obvious that the million, would have been gloriously .wasted by the Government.'-It'would nothave meant! more- than about £pO,OOO a year ;in .each- of the. eighteen j, years, or only one-fifth as much per annum as the sum which the Government, by its' .own confession, baa been wasting. It would havo been one lone million amongst, the ono hundred and twenty millions which roughly represent the total sum spent by, tllo Government in the past .eighteen years. ; Tho Government, ..would -havo wasted it almost'without,'feeling it. It wasted in the: past four years. Tho public can therefore judgo just now much better off.it would have been if the greatest of . spendthrifts wore giveh 1 this' little "oxtra" 'to'spend; ' There remains tho scfiond .question, , : -Wh6w is that .'mil-" lion»just,now,,iirid .what is it doing! Dr. : Finduy's; audicnce believed, as they' were no,doubt' intended to bcliovc, .that it is, lying in tho form-of golden sovereigns)' in the- safes ,of .the,bloated - capitalists.; although he discreetly'.' said -nothing about;it, pR. Findlav cannot be so "ig-, horant as 1 not; to know that-'thc ltiillion. has been' working■' as current capital all these years. Part of it went in bread and butter and tea—and part,- no doubt,in' whisky and beer—part'of it .went' to. build and run shops, part to buy andj stock farms,; part :to buy'mining shares, part to educate boys, and girls, part to tiriict public buildings,' part,-to' buy ■.Government debentures, part ! tio : settle men on the land—and almost all .'of;it-; (we would say all of it, were it not- that a small,fraction of it must -havo 'been dropped down gratings) has .gone' in the. pajjment of wages. Part of it .is probT ably by, now running Dn. Fisdlay's own motor-car.. Another part was almost certainly- in the pockets of De. ; Findlay'3 audience at the very moment when he was speaking about it.\ How would the public have benefited' if the million so spent/had'been J .taken in taxation and wasted by tho Government 1 The Minister's illustration enables us to : seo very clearly the fundamental fallacy of Radical taxation. . Tho taxation ,per lii Sad: in 189,1 was £3 'Bs. 2d! In 190S it was £o Os. 4d.The sum raised in 1891 in' taxation was £2,179,739. In 1903 it' was .a. little' under £5,000,000.' -'■ And ~all .tlic taxation.;that .tho .Governtneut.' has secured, the public debt has' incroased by over £30,000,000, the Government is '.-'furiously .trying to ( save enough money to avert a deficit, and the public is not so well off as it used to be. . "