FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1871.

Dunstan Times, Issue 501, 24 November 1871, Page 2

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1871.

The new Stamp Duties will come into operation on the Ist of December, Eor the present we ai - e spared a direct -income tax ; but the exigencies of the colony must inevitably, sooner or later, compel its infliction. In its stead, the public are called upon to submit to a direct tax, imposed in the least acceptable form. Two pence on every cheque, and likewise on every receipt for moneys to the extent of two pounds sterling, will give daily and hourly proof to the public how deaily they pay for the privilege of being governed. From one point of ■view this sudden augmentation of a direct tax will have its advantages It will serve as a constant reminder to the tax-payer that, if he wishes his country spared iu the slightest degree from the crushing incubus of expensive Government, he must rouse from his present apathy or grumbling discontent, and show in some degree a similar interest in public matters to that now exclusively centered in the interesting, but petty,details of his own business. The fast-increasing evils ol unwise or reckless legislation may be fairly attributed to the careless indifference evinced by the general taxpayer on all matters beyond his own limited scope of knowledge or observation. Absorbed in the thrifty management of his own affairs, he has been content to leave the business of legislation to' political traders—mere ii ickstering adventurers—to whom place and pay, and diverse petty pickings, form the summit of ambition. It is only when some heavy and direct demand on his pocket is made that the •tax-payer rouses to a sense of his humiliating condition. Hence direct taxation has its uses. Admitting the necessity for- inci eased fiscal burthens to bring up the revenue of the colony to the expenditure for the year, our legislators had the choice of two lines •of action : the one an addition to the already heavy import duties ; the other •a direct tax in the shape of augmented ■stamp duties. While adopting the. first to a slight degree, they have wisely placed their chief dependence ■on the last, even at the risk of enforcing a most unpopular measure Unpopular, inasmuch as a direct appeal to the tax-payer is always looked •upon with disfavor. The *• unknown quantities” of indirect taxation, in the form of duties on articles of daily consumption, are scarcely taken into account; but the extra penny on receipts and cheques will be considered a standing grievance. It is probable that the anticipated increase of revenue from this source may not be realised. The duty is just such an one as will be evaded considerably. Commercial men and others, blessed or bothered—as the case may ho—with banking accounts, will limit by every possible means the number of cheques they draw, and haply resort to the good old-fashioned custom of paying their debts iu notes and coin. But still the soundness of the principle of direct taxation in preference to indirect duties will not bo thereby aff. e'ed. .Taxation, as at present levied, in

fie >„ui.-’i? <d tuy.y d-iti<*» o<> avticha of 'oven--. 1 -y cousumjjtlu presses no;-t‘. severely, o e i •' sMlor, whoso Ini' Ms labor to supply hia daily necessities, (liitu on the eapitalist, who trades and fattens on tins market value of his accumulated riches, and. as a natural cohm qinnce, such indirect taxation renders cheap labor an impossibility. Wages can scarcely drop to a lower level than at present so long as the laboring man is de . iired from obtaining cheapTond and clothing. It may lie argued that, among a widely scattered and sparse population, direct taxation may be evaded ; but just in like manner are facilities oliered to unscrupulous men for the evasion of Custom du'ies. ft would be unwise to argue that'he falling off in Custom revenue is not. in some measure attributable Ki the great It mp'ath ns ' ofi'aed fur contraband trade by high duties on imported articles. The Now Zealand tax-payor is just in the position of the possessor of vast estates biirlhened with liabilities arising from unjust stewardship and uial-adminis. tration. A frightful accumulation of debts and prospective liabilities have to be wiped off' and provided fur As an honest man, In- scorns repudiation, and submits resignedly to heavy sacrifices, as a sequence to squandered revenues. But from the powers entrusted with the control of his affairs; he demands a clear statement of his position, a radical change in the control, and theiniiiatiun ofa system of ietrenehment, that will eventually help him through his difficulties without continually increasing levies on his already impoveiished resources. He requires, moreover, the means of individually calculating the exact amount of the demands made upon him. To this end direct taxation is most beneficial Let the tax-payer once become accustomed to the payment of an ascertainable yearly levy, either as income tax or stamp duties, and his present apathetic indifference to public business will quickly vanish. His mere instinctive desire to get good Value for his money will prompt him to a constant regard for its careful expenditure. The time may lie far j distant when political honesty and i known integrity will be the rule, rather than tin- exception, among our reckless legislators; 1 ut, let the taxpayers and electors he but true to themselves, «nd the colony m<y yet emerge triumphant from its present troubles.