COMPULSORY LOANS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 180, 19 April 1918, Page 6

COMPULSORY LOANS

MINISTER MAKES A STATEMENT PROCEDURE AND PRACTICE. . Interviewed yesterday on the subject of the compulsory clauses of the Finuica Act, .Sir Joseph Ward made the following statement, which will be of 'interest to those concerned;— "As doubts appear to exist in luo minds of many people regarding their obligation to subscribe to tlie War Loan tinder tne compulsory clauses of me Finance Act, it may be well to expluia clearly how it is proposed to administer •'.hese clauses. "Section 40 of tlie Finance Act, 1917, which provided compulsory clauses under that Act, has been repealed and "the only compulsory clauses which are now operative are those contained in tha Finance Act of 1918. Under these latter clauses the Commissioner of Taxed is empoweied—after comparing the amount of land and income tax paid by any individual with the amount of subscription to the War Loan of that individual—to serve a notice on tlie taxpayer claiming an additional sum by way of subscription to the loan. "Provision is made for the setting up of an Appeal Board to deal with any objections to the amount assessed by tha Commissioner of Tuxes, and a further appeal to a Judge of the Supreme Court is also provided by the Act. "Every person is liable to be called upon to contribute to the extent of six times the average annual amount of the laud and'income tax assessed to liiiu for the years 1915-10, 1916-17, 1917-18. This does ilut mean that the Commissioner of Taxes is compelled to claim •six limes the amount of such taxation, but this piovisiou is merely, inserted in the Act to provide a maximum amount beyond whica the Commissioner of Taxes cannot go. "The Act alfio provides that tlie sulh scriptions to the loan under these compulsory dailies will bear interest of 3 per cent, only, but I wish it to be thoroughly understood that time will ba given to enable persons to discuss their position with the Commissioner of Taxes before the penal clauses aVo put into operation. "Considerable discretionary powers are given to mo Appeal Board, who, in dealing with any appeal, will take into consideration the fact that an appellant bad subscribed liberally to previous loans, or that he had business losses, or that Els circumstances were otherwise such as would justify , him in claiming partial, or whole exemption' from the provisions of the Act. "The object of the compulsory clauses is not so much to compel the willing contributor to subscribe more than ha has done as it is to compel the shirker to shoulde/ his fair share of tlie financial burdens of the country." . T . In concluding his remarks, Sir Joseph Ward said lie'felt it his duty to state tlmt lie had given instructions for tlio compulsory clauses to be put into operation as ho found it necessary that this should be done. He would make a general statement about the present loan and give information concerning the ,£20,000,000 loan in tlie course of a day or so.