NEW SOUTH WALES BUDGET

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 45, 17 November 1926, Page 11

NEW SOUTH WALES BUDGET

GREAT DEFICIT LAST YEAR TAX ON PUBLICATIONS ANNOUNCED (Rec. November 17, 0.50 a.m.) Sydney, November 16. In the Legislative Assembly Mr. J. T Lang, the Premier Mid Colonial Treasurer, delivered the Budget. He said, as previously published, that the. rear had resulted' in a deficiency of £1,274,303, and added that no good purpose would be served by submitting to the House figures relating to the operations of the past financial year. The actual expenditure for the past financial vear was £39,924,000, or £953,000 in excess of the estimate. The public debt proper at the end of June last amounted to £209,493,012, or £B,090,685 more than it amounted to a vear earlier, and the total State indebtedness, including closer settlement debentures, amounted to £213,173,512. A deficiency of £748,884 was forecast for 1926-27.’ The receipts were estimated at £42:109,990 and the expenditure at £42,858,874’. Mr. Lang continued: The deficit will be'covered by a motor tax of £350,000, to be withdrawn from the Main Roads Board, and by a tax on publications, which is estimated to produce £400,000. With this additional revenue the operations for tlie current financial year are anticipated to show a surplus of £139,116. Although the droughty conditions affected the State finances to some extent last vear, the seasonal prospects this vear were much brighter. The general prosperity of the State was excellent, and a 'marked development was noticeable on all sides, and the •

condiitons of the masses were ne\er better. Mr. Lang declined to_ state the nature of the proposed publications tax.