BURDEN OF TAXES

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20119, 13 December 1939, Page 11

BURDEN OF TAXES

WORKERS IN GERMANY RATIO WITH BRITAIN TWO-THIRDS HEAVIER BRITISH SURTAX HIGHER (Eloc. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (British Official Wireless.) Reed. 9 a.m. RUGBY, Dec. 11. Although the weight of direct taxation is now greater than ever before in British history, the burden borne by British individual incomes Is not, according to estimates recently made, so great as tjiat under which the German workers are struggling. In Britain no income tax is paid by a married man with two children until his income exceeds £3OO a year, but in Germany a married wage-earner with two children pays 12s on £IOO income, £ll 14s on £2OO, and £23 8s 8d on £3OO. A British taxpayer with a similar family, earning £SOO a year, pays but little more than one-third of the amount extracted from his German counterpart, and on all incomes up to £7OO the German tax is more than double. On reaching the higher income levels, the incidence of British tax is heavier than the German.

The comparison, which is taken at the rate of 20 marks to the £, is thought by competent commentators to show the large reserve of British taxation capacity, whereas unless the Government is unfairly taxing the working class incomes, Germany must be within a short distance of the maximum of the direct taxation point.