THE INJUSTICE OF THE NEW TARIFF.— WOOL AND INCOME TAX WANTED.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume V, Issue 212, 11 January 1865, Page 3

THE INJUSTICE OF THE NEW TARIFF.— WOOL AND INCOME TAX WANTED.

(From the Nelson Colonist , Dec. 16.) For some years past the people of New Zealand, and many of their representatives, have cried out against the injustice and unequal pressure of the import duties of the Colony. At political meetings frequent allusion lias been made to the subject, and members have often expressed a desire to see extensive modifications effected in some of the rates levied. Little, therefore, did the public at large expect to find that the burden was to be rendsred more grievous by such largo additions to the rates of duties as have been made by the Parliament of New Zealand. If there was justice in the complaint that the tariff which existed previously to the Bth of the current month pressed too heavily on the poor man, that undue pressure must now be still greater under the new rates of taxation. On comparing the old with the new rates, we find that 50 per cent is added to the duty on ale and beer, cigars and snuff; cutlery, hardware, ironmongery candles and soap, have sustained an increase of 33J cent, per measnrement goods is increased 25 per cent, the rate of 4s per cubic foot (which measurement includes the packing case) being raised to ss. per foot. Spirits of all kinds are increased in price by 32 i per cent on the duty; the duty on tea is raised 50 per cent, that ou tobacco fully 66 per cent; on wine in wood the duty is increased by 33J per cent; and on wine in bottle by 66| per cent, over previous rates. Doubtless the Colonial Exchequer required replenishment, but statesmen who are masters of their craft would have shown at least some shadow of invention in preference to increasing an evil which is totally opposed to the free-trade principles which make England the great commercial nation she is, and the effect of which taxation is so unjust to the working man. The great principle of taxation at home is and has been for years

to reduce the number of dutiable articles, and to lower the import duties on those which remain, finding a substitute in direct taxation. Our plan here is different, but the home country knows best for all that, Mr. Weld, at Canterbury, professed a great regard for Taranaki, and we all sympathise with the sufferings of that unhappy little province. He declared his readiness to lose half his income in income-tax rather than allow the settlers in Taranaki to be left in their present position. It is rather a curious fashion of carrying out this hustings generosity by levying further imposts upon a people tolerably well taxed already. Wo do not object to the taxing of what may be termed luxuries. They are and always have been legitimate subjects of governmental tax. Therefore to the increase of the ale, spirit, and wine duties, we do not offer any objection, nor do we think that many will raise the old cry about “ robbing a poor man of Ins beer.” Of course the consumer must pay the tax, and the publicans have already taken time by the forelock, and increased their tariff.

The articles of necessity, the duty on which is increased, stand in a different category. Tea is no longer a luxury; neither is clothing, blanketing, nor ironmongery. The digger is always one of the heaviest taxed mortals in the community. He explores the country, and creates settlements ; paying for the cost of carriage two or three hundred per cent for the eternal bacon and flour and tea which form his daily diet when up in a distant country, working hard to get the gold on which, when he has got it, he must pay a duty of half-a-crown an ounce ; yet he must now pay more for his tea, his pickaxe, his shovel and tin dish.

Sardines and similar oilmen’s stores are much more largely consumed by the digger and the working man in general than by the richer colonist. They form the relish of a meal in the tent, and at the tables of our cottage homes. On pickles, for example, and currants, the duty will now amount to about the original cost at which they are invoiced. These, therefore, a wise legislature ought to strive to liberate from the broad arrow of the Customs officer. Much more is this argument applicable to clothing of all kinds, which is now liable to a measurement duty of ss. per cubic foot. The inequality of this duty is a crying evil. The moleskm trousers, the blue shirt, the rough boots, of the working man, pay, in respect to value, an enormous rate, compared with the superfine broadcloth of the rich man, or the satin dress or shot silk of his well-dressed spouse. All this has been shown before. It is an admitted evil, which is proportionately increased by the increase of the duty. The evil of taxation on these articles is not only the pressure of the duty itself; but it also tends to the prevention of impoatation of what is a cheap article at homo. For it must be evident that the colonial dealer will iu a great measure cease to import the lower priced article, on which his profits are small, because the difference in the value between the cheaper and the dearer article is almost equalized by the heavy duty now imposed. We want a duty on wool, and a direct incometax. Even the wool-packs are admitted duty tree; the tobacco for sheep wash pays nettling to the Exchequer, so that the men who have obtained our laud in large tracts and at cheap prices, enjoy a protection which is analagous to the defunct and rotten old system of protection for the farmer, which meant, taxed and dear bread to the poor man, a protection which Free Trade has for ever destroyed iu England. A duty of wool is of course a step to which on principle, and in a fair normal condition of the Colony, we should, as a free-trade advocate, be opposed. But money is wanted for pressing fiscal purposes, “ Her Majesty’s Government must bo carried on,” our honest liabilities must bo met; but they ought to be met honestly, and not by an adjustment of taxation which bears with undue aud improper weight on the shoulders of the poor man. Therefore, instead of taxing importations which form the necessaries of life to the mass of the working population, the product of the wool-growing landowners ought to have been included in the commodities on which duty is exigible.

Let us see what an export duty of a penny per pound on wool would produce. The statistics for the year 1862 show that the export of wool from New Zealand was close upon ten millions of pounds weight. The increase has been on the average fully two millions of pounds annually. Suppose that in 1865 it would reach fifteen million pounds. A tax of a penny per pound on this amount would produce the sura of £62,500. If we had a Minister able to look with the eye of a true statesman at the wants and welfare of his fellow-colonists, and had the House of Representatives been composed of men really what they are termed, and not, as nearly two-thirds of them are, men holding Government situations and receiving Government pay, this tax had been passed, and the duty on goods by weight and measurement, and on tea, been allowed to remain as before, while a small addition on the universally used tobacco would have sufficed. The Colonial Treasurer estimated the increased revenue from the three first of these articles as follows: Tea £13,561 Goods by Measurement 27,585 Goods by Weight 2,940 £44,086 Deduct this from the wool tax we have estimated £62,500 Leaving in round numbers ... £18,409 which would have allowed a half to be deducted from the increase on the duty on tobacco. Thus would the luxuries have been taxed, while the necessaries of life would have been unaltered; and a class who enjoy protection made to pay a fair share of the burdens of our Government. But the beaten road of taxation was made. It was easily trod and Mr. Weld and his Ministers trod it. We venture to predict that the politician who will ultimately be the most popular man in New Zealand will be the man who shall introduce a tax on wool, and a tax on income and property. Re* garding the extended influence and incidence of an income tax we shall have something to say next week.