COLONIAL TAXATION.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume XII, Issue 515, 7 October 1867, Page 1

COLONIAL TAXATION.

(From the Nelson Examiner.) A change in the mode of raising- the revenue of the country is the one thing to which we have consistently endeavoured to draw public attention as the first anti principal thing needed ; in other words, a diminution of the Customs duties, and the substitution of a system of direct taxation. The carrying out of such a scheme is not, we are aware, to be regarded as a perfect remedy for all our diiiiculties, but it will do a great deal by its direct operation, and its indirect operation may be fairly expected to do something in addition. The first and direct eifect will be the relief of trade, and the more equitable distribution of the burden of taxation. The second and indirect effect will be the prospect of retrenchment. To both of these points it is very necessary that the public mind should be attentively turned. We may assume that all parties ami all shades of parties are, at all events theoretically, agreed in this, that the present taxation in the shape ot Customs duties is the incubus that smothers and oppresses the struggling energies of this country. All will admit this, however much the exigencies of party may separate their vo ; e from their conviction ; all will admit it, whatever opinion they may entertain as to the relative merits of direct and indirect taxation. The fact indeed is too obvious for dispute. Here is a population of le*s than 250,iMUjpersons paying iS7tJ.OOO in Customs duties alone, p This is the sum estimated by Mr Filzhcrkcrt as! Customs revenue for the ensuing year, and the'; meaning of it is that every man, woman, and I, child iu these islands may look forward to paying ii about id 10s. during the next year upon the; various necessaries and luxuries they may consume ; ( during the next year. Tb..t is a promising pros-i peet for eeonoai.eil famines woo are exerting themselves under ,hfU?ulti-« and hoping for better i tunes. That is a re-assuring station.-alTur trades-! men who complain of the dullness of trade, and; mho know that it is the addition to the Customsi impost to the proper market price of their wares 1 ' that causes the latter to lie unsold in their shops.( If anyone thinks that it is possible for the country Ito prosper under such of things as.this, allL we cun say is that the faith of that person par-!] takes of the sublime. To us, we confess the ill-|' timed facet iousness of the Colonial Treasurer in;, discussing these subjects, only shows bow little j' men in office appreciate or care for the needs of;, the country ; and his congratulations on the pro-( gressivt* increase of the Customs revenue appears’] like a ghastly mockery of the public distress.j, What are we to think of a Finance Minister who congratulates the country on thy elasticity of itsli j resources, because a fresh application of the finxn-]i cial screw has succeeded in increasing the sum!] w rung out of the tax-payer ? For this is the,)] sort of irony with which Air Eitzherbert regales)t the House and the country. lie shows that for Liiu hist ion vears llio Cubtuftia rc-Vri-uo 1 >:«s con

sUiuliy iin'riMM’u, ami we, grant that it we haul;: merely at I lie. yearly increase from 1557 to 1 Nil’ we have ivasuii Sir satisfaction. But we know; that the Customs duties were increased in the, last-named year—and what followed ? In thej financial year ISo2-3, tin: Customs revenue was in Ihe following year (150:3-1-), it Imd' increased to XOiTd-'Ud, or more than onc-fil'lli. But during the next year (1 Stil-o), under an increased tarith, t lie Customs revenue attained only to the sum of id 1-5,297, having increased only bv about one twnny-nifrh, or a tilth part of its increase in the preceding year. Row we do not 1 say that this remarkable falling off in the yearly i increase was due entirely to the augmentation oth t lie duties, but we feel safe in saying that this was] one import,ant factor iu the production of such a! result, But let us look a little farther. In tire next year, or Ibfio-O, we find the Custom? revenue amounting to £790,227, showing again an increase of oue-lifih, and giving evidence, that, though times were bad, the resources of the country had some vitality, and the Customs duties, though heavy, were not absolutely crushing. But then the present tariff was introduced, and what do the returns show ? Tlie Customs duties fur the financial year last ended, amount to iSdl/hiS, the increase being reduced to less than 'one-twelfth. And is it possible that a Finance : Minister should have the effrontery to congratulate i the people's representatives, and through them the |country at large, on such a stale of things as this ? JHere is a series of figures which shows that every 'augmentation of Customs duties has been followed ‘ by an immediate and most striking diminution in | lire rale of increase of Customs revenue; and yet iMr Fnzherberi, looking only to the absolute j increase, and neglecting the proportionate diminution, thinks this “interesting return” very satisfactory. It is as if a doctor, ignoring the pallid lips and feeble pulse of his patient, should congratulate him on the “elasticity” of his constitution, and should point, in proof, to tiie. basin of blood which had been drawn from bis arm, and which exceeds by an ounce or two that obtained on a former occasion. Instead of joining in the congratulations of the Colonial Treasurer congratulations which we fear were as insincere as they are preposterous—

we regard the very figutes jrroiiuCcu by Mr l'itzherbe.rt as giviug additional evidence of what was, indeed, sufficiently clear without them—that the iCustoms duties are ruining the country. The 'first step in reform is, therefore, obviously to lighten the tariff, and fo shift a part of the burden to shoulders better able to bear it than the classes upon whom it at present falls. Even grantiuir, what we do not grant, that there is no room for retrenchment, and that the present revenue must be raised—to lighten the tariff will be to ease the

springs of commerce, and to increase the prosperity of the country, and-consequently its power .to yield a revenue. But, as we have said, we do | not grant the impossibility of retrenchment. On the contrary, we are very sure that there is plenty iof room for retrenchment,; and we reckon it among the virtues of direct taxation, that it will open the eyes of men to this sooner than any i other means. Who wall venture to tell ns that no retrenchment is possible, when such un absurdity appears on the Estimates as is shown in regard to the office of Sub-Treasurer iu different provinces P In Nelson, Taranaki, and Hawke’s Bay, the SubTreasurer’s department costs £l5O per annum ; in Auckland, which has a smaller revenue than Nelson, £850; Otago, £700; and Canterbury, £1,056. Tliis item is given as a good illustration of the skill and care with which all parts of our financial scheme are worked.