SOLDIERS AND WAR TAXATION

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3178, 31 August 1917, Page 4

SOLDIERS AND WAR TAXATION

A clause in tho 'Financo Bill which exempts naval and military pay earned beyond New Zealand from income tax embodies a concession which is just as far as.it goes, but hardly seems to go far enough. A._ fairly numerous body of Second Division reservists, in particular, will suffer serious hardship unless they are granted some more liberal relief from war taxation than is conceded in the exemption of military pay. Those upon whom the existing arrangement will bear most severely are men who are in receipt of a fairly good income which they will sacrifice upon going into camp. Many of these men, even if their income is at present of taxable proportions, have a narrow financial Jnargin to come and go upon, and some of .them at least will bo apt to find themselves in serious difficulties if they are met with a fairly taxation demand when they are on the point of going into camp or have actually exchanged their civil income for a soldier's pay. It is • to the point in this connection that the Government has recognised the desirability of as far as possible protecting homes from being broken up when men go into camp ,and has made tho maintenance of the home ouo of _ the grounds upon which a reservist called up for service may apply to tho Soldiers' Financial Assistance Board. It is certainly very desirable and only | just that a man going abroad to serve his country should bo enabled | to leave his family in tho home to ! which they are accustomed, but this will often bo difficult in any case, and will certainly not be made easier if members of tho Expeditionary Force aro granted no relief from war taxation in respect of the year which precedes their going into camp. The concession mado in the Finance Bill, though in itself it is obviously justified, does nothing to meet the case of those 'who are hampered in providing for their families by tho heavy loss of _in< come entailed in exchanging a civil occupation for military service. The concession will chiefly benefit those whose civil income continues in 'whole or part after they havo joined the Expeditionary Force. Men whoso civil incomes terminate when they enter camp have certainly; as good a claim to consideration. Whore a taxation demand imposes an additional handicap upon a soldier in making provision for hi* family the fact will perhaps strengthen his claim to a grant from the Financial Assistanoo Board, but there docs, not seem to be any reasonable objection to a measure of direct exemption from taxation. Making a concession on these lines the Government would usefully supplement tho good work it has dona in creating the Financial Assistance Board and proposes to do' in increasing allowances to the- dependents of soldiers on active service.