CHECK TO BUILDING

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 39, 16 February 1933, Page 6

CHECK TO BUILDING

ARCHITECTS' PROTEST

Protest against tho sales tail being imposed on building materials was voiced at last night's annual general meeting of the Now Zealand Instituto ■ of Architects in tho form of the following resolution proposed by the presi- , dent, Mr. H. Mandeno, Dunedin:— "That this annual'meeting of the New Zealand Institute of Architects regrets that the Government has seen fit to penalise the building industry, one of the few industries creating potential wealth, by the imposition of a sales tax on materials .employed..' in ..,building, thereby increasing 'the; cost of building, especially at the present time, when it is. estimated that approximately 20 per cent, of the present unemployed were previously engaged in the building industry" and its allied trades." - The mover remarked that they would all recognise that the Government was up against it, but in taxing the sale of building material it was surely defeating its purpose. Had the sale of land been taxed ten years ago, the Dpmin- ' ion would not now be in the position it was. ! Several of those speaking in favour ! of -the motion said that times of depression were the times to get people to spend. By the taxing of building 1 material there was a nullification of efforts to alleviate unemployment in 1 the building and allied trades. The I effect of the sales tax would be to * postpone much building that would " otherwise have been proceeded .with. \ The Government was likely to be dis- ' appointed in tho revenue it hoped to derive from this source. A month or a two ago confidence was being restored in the building trade, but that was L . now entirely squashed.'by, the rise in ~ the exchange rate and by the'sales tax. The Dominion needed annually some .. 3500 new houses to keep pace with the increasing population, said, one speaker, c but only 1500 were being built. There _ would inevitably be a; shortage of _ houses and a consequent rise in prices. '(_ After farming, according to the Tear y Book, the building and* allied _trs_3.es *_ were the Dominion's greatest industry _. and employed the largest number of t_, hands. To penalise the building indus try further was short sighted policy. [„ Mr. Johns suggested that there was .4 another aspect of 'the question. Th« le sales tax might make competitior c . keener while keeping costs at their pre ly sent level. Other- speakers,^however n sajd that builders now had so,smal a margin of profit 'that "they could -nrfl j- e afford to pay "the * sales tax„_witlioui 1K - raising prices. Tho motion was carried. ' '" '