PARLIAMENT.

Feilding Star, Volume XII, Issue 152, 18 June 1891, Page 2

PARLIAMENT.

-♦ ■The following are the main features of the Financial Statement, Avhich was delivered in the House on Tuesday last "by the Colonial Treasurer, the Hon. John Ballance: — . CONSOLIDATED FUND. The estimated expenditure for the year 1890-91, including the Civil list and other permanent charges, amounted to £4,125,----502. The actual expenditure, was £4,' 175,108. {There were savings in soma classes of expenditure, and excesses in - others, but the net result shows an excess of expenditure over the estimate of £49, 606. ORDINARY REVENUE ACCOUNT 1890-91. The late Government estimated the revenue to be received at £4,159,000, whichincluded £55,000 for primage duty for the whole year. ■It will, however,, be in therecollection of the Committee that it wasdetermined to discontinue the collection of the primage duty at the end of l«st September. , The revised revenue to ho - received was accordingly .£4,131,500, instead of £4,159,000 as before stated. ' The ;. actual amount receiyed was £4,282,504, or 151.004 in excess of the revised estimate, RESULTS OF THE YEAR 1890-91. , At tbe beginning of the year a surpluswas shown of £36,568 19s 4d, after paying off the balance of the deficit' at the31st March, 1888 (£78,605 0s 8d). As I before stated, the receipts amounted to £4,282,504 9s 7d, making a total of £4,319,073 8s lid, available for expenditure during the year. • The total expenditure amounted to £4,175,107 13s sd, thus - leaving a surplus of £143,965 15s 6d on the'Slst March last, a result which mustbe very gratifying to the Committee. ESTIMATED RESULT OF THE YEAR 1891-92, - As I have before stated a suplus was-' brought forward of L 143.965 15s 3d*to commence the present year with, to which I add the estimated revenue for the year, amounting to L 4,268,80 L - -,-412,766 15s 6d. ' From this I deduct the anticipated' expenditure of ,L 4,155,105, leaving a surplus of L 257,660 15s 6d atihe end of the present financial year. FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS. The question will now suggest itself to ' the Committee, in what way can this surplus be disposed of? It must haye . beeu recognised that the tendency of the age is to increase the postal facilities of the~ world, and to reduce' the cost' of carrying letters. The time has thereforearrived, the Government belieye, when the penny post should be established in New Zealand. The cost of the reductionin the present year is estimated- at not more than " L 40,000. It iB also intended to ask* for power to establish the penny post with the Australian Colonies. The postage of newspapers to the other colon-, ies, now a penny, it is proposed shall -in future be one halfpenny. It is also pro- *• posed to reduce the telephone charges to 1 a uniform rate of L 5 a year. The question of settling the land, and carrying on the work of colonisation in the making of roads to open up land forsettlement, will have, we think, to "be . borne in future, to some 'extent, by the Consolidated Fund. We propose, therefore, in the present year to apply the sum of LBO,OOO out of revenue for the work of opening up land for settlement. The" Committee may remember that my predecessor made a proposal in 1887 to pay out the sinking fund accretions, ■► -under tbe Consolidated Stock Act, 1884, to the amount of L 40,000 a year, tha deficit of the year 1888 amounting to L 400,000. It was also proposed th.tt? " any credit balance of ordinary revenue, from year to year, shall be devoted to the same purpose, instead of being carried • - forward to the next account." Shortdated debentures were issued to cover the. deficiency. The debt still remains, the arrangement to extinguish it not having been put in force. We now propose to apply LIOO.OOO to the surplus of the year ' to the reduction of this debt. We promise to place a tax of 2£ per centrou- the money passing through the totalisator, which will amount to^ about LIO,OOO a year, and for the .remainder of the present year to about LSOOO. SUMMARY. - Those various proposals I shall now bring together to show- the -financial result: Cost of peany £40,000(1 do not include the intercolonial postage, as the negotiations are not completed) j £30,000 for opening up land for settlement; £6000,' duty on Native leases; £21,820 to meet estimated deficit-in Land Fund," and 1 an appropration of £100,000 ■ to pay off debt incurred in 1888 to meet the deficit of that year. The total of these various amounts is £187,820.- Deducting this from, the estimated surplus of £257,660, we have a net surplus available to carry forward of £59,840. To this has to be added the tax on the totalisator amounting to £5000, bringingup the surplus for the current year to £64,840, which will be an ample margin to provide for supplementary estimates and possible contingencies. - XEVENUE RESOURCES. The revenue per head of populations deriyed from some of the mam items of the tariff points to the facts that it will be impossible to depend in the future' oi the increased consumption of alcoholic 1 liquor to strengthen the Consolidated Fund. Stamps will, as greater wealth is diffused among the .community, continue- - to give a yearly increase, and must bo considered as one 1 of the pillars- of our financial system. The railways can never, I think, 1 be relied on for revenue • • purposes. Direct taxation in the way of . a land and income tax must remain, with the development of our industries, a

fruitful source of income,- and an equivalent of the amount obtained" from the present property tax may for some time be a necessity.' When the nature of our obligations will permit it, we are of opm. ion that relief should be given on the necessaries of life - now paying duties through the Customs ; but we must becertain, while the great object is being reached, that we shall have sufficient revenue to meet the growing demands on the Consolidated Fund arising through the cessation of borrowing large amounts of money in the English market. THE CIVIL SERVICE. The Government recognise that vigorous measures are required to place the Civil Service-of the Colony on & satisfactory footing. They have discovered thafc departments have been over-manned and do their work imperfectly, and they have ' had to apply the pruning-knife of retrenchment. It is hardly necessary to add that welfare of the country demands a highlyorganised, intelligent or patriotic Civil Service. To attain this end it is the duty of all parties to combine. GOVERNMENT INSURANCE DEPARTMENT, During the recess I, have made enquiry into the management of the Government Insurance Department ; aud I have come to the' conclusion that the institution is conducted with skill and success. PUBLIC TRUST OFPICB. - The Royal Commission appointed to- inquire into the working of the Public Trust Department has made a thorough investigation, and many reforms in its administration will no doubt Be suggested.* SETTLEMENT ON THE LAND.. My colleague the Minister of Lands xHjt a»k the Legislature to consolidate. ' $££ '

amend the law relating to the disposal o the Crown lands. The limited auantitj -~of the* public estate still available for set tleruent suggests the'necessity of providing that in future the bona fide settler shal be considered before the speculator anc the monopolist. The time, it is believed has arrived "when suitable areas will have to be purchased by the Crown for smaL farm settlement. A Bill will be introduced'to establish a- satisfactory system of purchase. If borrowing in the English market is to be discontinued, the means will have to be provided for carrying, on the work of settling the waste lands of the colony. Recognising this fact, the late Government proposed to amend the Government Loans to Local Bodies Act to enable money to be advanced on the security, of a special rate to be levied on the settlers. • INCIDENCE OF TAXATION. I' have now to ask- the Committee to #rant me its attention while I bring-be-fore it the question of the incidence of taxation, more especially in its relation to taxes on land aud incomes. We propose to graduate the tax .on the following scale :"— - On a total taxable value of £5000 'to £10,000 .• W ""-. -. 'lid. On.total taxable value of £10,000 to £20,000 -.. .ljd. On a total taxable value of £20,000 to* £50,000. ; .. .. .... If d. On a total taxable value of £50,000 t0.£100,000 l^d. Ona total taxable valueof £100,000 - v and over ... -.. .. lsd. It will interest the Committee to know what a land tax is , expected to yield on this system, supposing the. ordinary rate to be Id in the £. Tne result of an allround tax of Id on the laud of persons, as distinguished from companies, has been' estimated by the Property Tax Department- at £177,596, and the graduated division of the tax on persons at £46,567 The all-round tax on the land of companies at Id amounts to £27,361, and the graduated at £15,323: If we add these amounts together we' obtain a grand total of £266,847. Having dealt with the land tax and its incidence,. I how come to the consideration of a tax on incomes derived from trade and commerce. We believe the property tax to be grossly unjust 'in its operation, imposing without discrimination burdens on -capital,, whether productive or unproductive, and discouraging industry. For. this obnoxious form of taxation . we intend to- substitute an -income tax of a Is in the pound. There will be an exemption of £150, and a deduction by way of abatement of a like amount from incomes which do not exceed'j:6oo. In order to prevent misconception, it will be well for me to - state distinctly that income tax will not be levied on any income derived .from land or from money lent on mortgage. Such property .will be subject to land tax only. -In charging tax on incomes derived from professions, and from occupations in which profit- is not made from capital, and on salaries, we propose to exempt ail incomes of £300 and under and to .deduct all incomes above this amount. The- proposals I have the" honour 'of submitting to the Committee will tend, I- /believe, -to adjust ' the ■ direct taxation of the country, in accordance with the capacity, of the different , classes of the community to . bear it. The exemption of improvements up to £3000 ( on land affords a material relief to the farmers and improving landowners, while it "directly .encourages thrift in conveying ' the intelligence -that industry and labour no longer mean additional burdens. The graduation of taxation on the large estates is in accordance with the principal of the equality of sacrifice, and will act in the direction of placing a check on , monopoly. ,- - *„"-' . rCONCLTJSION. "'Before concluding, I consider it my ,' duty to direct the - attention of the Com- 1 jnittee to Ihe lesson conveyed by the census returns of the population recently issued. Briefly, the rough results of the census, as shown by . enumerators, give a population, subject to, revision, of 623,354 persons - not including Maoris, against 578,482 persons in March, 1886 making an increase tor the five years of 44,870. But the natural increase' for this period, being the excess*" of births over deaths, is 64,168 - persons ; so that the loss by excess of departures, over , arrivals is 19,298. I have, Sir, to • return my • sincere thanks to the hon members for their attention, JLoud and long-continued applause. Mr E. M. Smith:" That's the programme for the Colony. , (Laughter.) The Premier, in answer to the Hon Mr Bryce, said the Bill altering the incidence of taxation would- be introduced as early as possible. The Hon Mr Bryce said, considering the interest and magnitude of the subject present discussion was out of.the question. It had been suggested that the debate should go on with the Electoral Bill, but upon the whole it seemed to hi m that it would not be satisfactory to discuss any other subject, however interesting. The Premier said he was going to ask , the Committee to report " progress, and then move the" adjournment.' This course was adopted, and the House rose at 8.55 p.m.