SALARY TAXATION

Grey River Argus, 21 September 1937, Page 2

SALARY TAXATION

PLEA FOR REDUCTION. WELLINGTON. September 20. Speaking in the Legislative Council, Hbn. Vincent Ward made a plea for a reduction in taxation on the salaried- man who was not in a position to protect himself through a union or by other means. Income tax had been increased by 300 per cent, on the man earning £4OO, while increases on sipme other classes uad not been so great. “I want to make a plea for the great mass of the people in this country,” Mr. Ward said, “for those in receipt of incomes from £2OO to £5OO per annum. The wealthy man can look after himself; if his wealth is attacked he is quite capable of making himself heard. The wage-earner can be heard. He has the unions and the union secretaries to look after him, and he can appeal Io the Arbitration Court, but the man 1 refer to is silent; he has no means of being heard; he goes on from day to day doing his daily task.” In 1914, said Mr. Ward, the man with £4OO a year paid £lO as income tax. and by 1937 that had increased to £4O, or by 300 per cent. All the smaller incomes up to £6OO had been increased from 250 to 300 per cent, while from £6OO to £2,000 the increase was only approximately 150 per cent. Beyond £2,000 the increase had gone .up and reached as much as 512 per cent, increase over 1914.

Wealth was evenly distributed in New Zealand, Mr. Ward continued, and returns showed that for 1935-36 over £50,000,000 had been received by 133,952 persons. The assessable income on that was over £47,000,000. bi these, 4,926 were earning over £l,OOO, and 176 earned over £5,000. On these higher incomes taxation had reached approximately 10s in the £. Generally speaking, taxation was too high, and should have been reduced with the return of prosperity. The Hon. T. Brindle had said that previous Governments had reduced direct taxation only • to increase indirect taxation, but that was not so. From 1930 to 1936 direct taxation had increased and indirect taxation had decreased. Fifty-six per cent, of all taxation was indirect in 1930, but in 1936 the position had been reversed, 49 per cent, being indirect.