BUDGET DEBATE IN HOUSE

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 26, 23 October 1937, Page 3

BUDGET DEBATE IN HOUSE

•Pres3 Xssociation.)

57 Members Have So Far Spoken N.Z. TAX CAPACITY

(By Telegrap'R—

WELLINGTON, Last Niglit. j When the House resumed at 2.30, Mr 'Barnes contended that it was impossiblo 'to tell when the tasable capacity of the country had been reached. As long as the standard of life of the community was high and the people were happy and enjoying reasonable social amenities, he felt sure the taxable capacity of the Dominion had not been reached. Taxation did not mean so much when it was considered what the individual had leffc after that taxation had been paid. He stressed the1 importance of redistribution of national wealth in a. better manner than had been used by past government ind said those governments had squandercd the people 's money to a far greater extent than ever the present Administration was likely to do. Rabbit Chasing. Mr J. G. Barday (Govt., Marsden) said the difference between the Labour Party and the Opposition was that the Labour Party always placed the individual first, while the Opposition stood primarily for the preservation of private property and proprietary rights. Labour had been accused of agitating and'misrepresen'tation, but he was of the opinion that there was no more efflcient agitator .or one who used misrepresentation more adroitly than the "capitalist Who was afraid he was about to lose Boniething. He said the leader of the Opposition was a great pessimist ahd the philosophy he preached would give ' .people the "hines." There had been a lot of tallc. of huge taxation and he stated the man with £5500 a year paid a little over £1500 in taxation, which was £200 more than the past Government had received. The man or company getting £10,000 a year paid £4000 in taxation, but he stil lhad £6000 left. The State was using that £4000 more wisely for social services, etc., than the private. individual could. He quoted the balance-sheet of the Farmers' Trading Company -to 'show that the present Was a time of prosperity. The company had shown a profit last year of £104,000 or 7 per cent. It had paid 5 per cent the year before and 3 per cent the year *before that, and nothing at all in the year before that. He admitted that the boot trade in New Zealand was cxperiencing difliculty at the present time, but he added that the Opposition always had to have a rabbit to ehase. They had had "Scrim rabbit," " orange rabbit," and now they had " boot rabbit.'" Goodnesa only knew what the next rabbit would be. He admitted also that difiiculty was being experienced iu securing fatni labour, but quoted Hansard and newspapers to show that the same difficultj had been experienced before the present Government came into offi.ce. Dealing with pensions, he said this was the only country in the Britisl Empire where war pensions had been increased. The present Budget was a re markable one and would go down in history to the credit of the Government which had introduced it. Budgets Compared. Mr C. H. Murnett (Govt., Tauranga) said that in view of the criticism of the Budget, it was interesting to compare it with the Budget ni 1921. The estimated gross revenue tms year was not quite half a million pounds more than in 1921, but the value of exports was over £21,000,000 greater this year. Surely in these circmnstances it was not unreasonable to budget for a million pounds from the graduated land tax and £7,500,000 from the income tax. He pointed out that a sum of £1,688,000 was eollected from the graduated land tax in 1921. The Minister of Marketing had rendered the primary producers of the country wonderful service andj the criticism concerning his trip to the*01d Country was to be strongly deprecated. He felt that certain farmers appreciated What Mr Nash had done for them. Dealing with the position of the citrus fruit industry, he expressed concern at the recent importation of 600 cases of Californian lemons and said he could not see the necessity for the importation. Parable of Slump. Mr E. J. Howard (Govt., Christchurch -South) referred to' the fact that this would probably be his last speech on the Budget in the present debate before the Minister of Finance replied. Mr Broadfoot: Not the least, by any means. • Mr Howard: I thank tke houourable member. Ho likened the country to a ship which had come through a hurricane. When the present Government had taken office the sails wex-e torn,'the rails smashed, the rudder damaged aud tho boats were gone. The crew was hungry, tho officbrs were discontentod and complaints came from aLl parts of the ship. But when Labour had taken over all the mess of the liurricane had beeil cleaned up. He wished to congratulafe the Minister of Education for the way ho had stepped in and helped to clear up the position which had existed in our schools and colleges. The Budget, he said, was a good one — a fact with which experts overseas who were not biassed by party politics agrecd. The Government eould not be expected to reduee taxation wh.en it had been in office only two years. He advocated the turning over of the whole of the provincial council chamber building in Christchurch to tho trustees appointed under the Act, to be preserved as a national memoriai to the early pioneers. The House adjourned at 5.30 until 2.30 on Tuesday. Fifty-seven speakers have taken part in the debate up to the present.