The Dominion. MONDAY, JULY 3, 1944. REVENUE FROM TAXATION

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 236, 3 July 1944, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, JULY 3, 1944. REVENUE FROM TAXATION

Figures relating to revenue from taxation, published in the Abstract of Statistics, afford the most convenient means of comparison available in any official publication. But they also. emphasize the marked lack of data provided by the Government in this respect. .Practically from the commencement of hostilities the British Government recognized that, as the national expenditure would soar to. record heights and taxation reach unprecedented levels, it was essential that the people should be as fully informed as possible. For this purpose there has been published, with the presentation of the British .Budget, a White Paper. Referring to the latest issue of this official publication the London Economist remarked that “the Budget White Paper, which, in four years, has become the indispensable foundation of any discussion of the British national finances, concerns itself with two subjects—the sources of war finance and the national income and expenditure.” Similar data—this indispensable foundation for any. discussion of the national finances—must be prepared for the drafting, of our own Budget, but nothing is made available to the general public. This is in marked contrast with British practice which, it has been remarked, “continues to supply much better information about the national income and its distribution and expenditure than it was ever possible to obtain before the war.” The New Zealand figures relating, to revenue from taxation in the Abstract of Statistics are of distinct interest. They can be stated in aggregate form in a table covering the last complete pre-war year, the first year of war and the financial year just closed:

•Employment promotion tax. It will be seen that for the first time in its history the Dominion has provided, in one form or another, a sum exceeding £100,000,000 in revenue from taxation in a single year. The increase recorded last year (£12,898,000) was nearly 15 per cent, above the total for the preceding year. Revenue last year was extremely buoyant and obviously official estimates were unduly conservative. In all. three accounts receipts were above the budgetary estimates, and, in the aggregate, actual receipts exceeded the estimates by over £13,000,000, and that must be a record. There is an interesting statement in the Abstract of Statistics to the effect that in addition to the sum of £4,200,000 transferred to the War Expenses Account from the Consolidated Fund surplus of 1942-43, a further sum of £7,500,000 was transferred from the past year's taxation revenue. A point of particular interest in this respect arises out of the fact that the Budget provision for transfer under this head was only £1,500,000. So it would seem that the very large addition of £6,000,000 to the War Expenses Account has been made possible as the result of the unexpectedly large increase in taxation revenue. No exception can be taken to the transfer of these millions of revenue toward war expenses, but it is a little curious that in his survey of the past year’s financial operations the Acting-Prime Minister should have failed to make any mention of this very important transaction. It is worthy of comment, too, that had this transfer from revenue not been made the Consolidated Fund surplus for the year just ended would have been not £2,232,000 as announced, but. the staggering figure of £8,232,000. Possibly the Acting-Minister realized that a surplus of this magnitude would not be. a flattering testimony to the accuracy of his absent colleague’s budgeting.

Revenue from Taxation. Consolidated Fund Social Security .. War -Expenses .1939. £ .... 32,305,772 5,492,132* 1941. £ 34,873,732 10,741,801 15,745,247 1944. £ 42,017.619 13,377,773 45,444,092 £37,797,904 £61,360,840 £100,839,484 Per head mean population £23/9/2 £37/10/3 £61/11/7