WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 8 July 1929, Page 2

WELLINGTON TOPICS

' 'TAXATION. , AN OLD OLD PROBLEM. (Special Correspondent.) •'O. ,r . WELLINGTON, July 4'. j At/'the meeting ' of the Wellington ~Cffn!ftbcr of Commerce last evening Mr • E; Salmond, the chairman, made a very earnest appeal for a revision of the present system of taxation along the lines recommended by the. Taxation of 1922 and practically enUdorsed by the Taxation Commission of ,-1924. Mr Salmond eulogized the re- - commendations of the Commission as “,an ideal system of taxation” under

winch""every individual in the State Would be called upon to pay in proportion to his income. The aim of the public should be, he urged, to bring about a system of taxation based on equity and justice which would press harshly on lid individual and no section of the community. Under the present system of . levying, the income tax a widow witlV a few pounds invested in company shares would pay at the same rate as tfoiild . the., ’'itiVestor of ,'many.: thnomalies ipf * this, kind' need , for 'd ms tic reforms.**; "■> . HALTINO-POLmqiANS.’ V ’V ■' -; 1 Mr Salmond, wlio has ft '-‘propensity towards calling a spade a spade,. did not hesitate in taking the politicians to account for their hesitancy in dealing with this problem. One of the grievances against the Coates Govern-, ment had been, he said, that when the Commission’s report was laid before it in 1925 it embodied none of its more important proposals in legislation and offeree no reasonable excuse for failing to do so.' *'‘ The business men of the community had made very strong representations to the Prime Minister and his colleagues on the subject,' but, beyond personal civilities, they were as ‘‘a voice crying in the wilderness.” Business men, the chairman went on to say, hoped for better things from the Ward Government, which had pron'fised in effect quality of sacrifice and a square deal;''. At the conclusion of the chairman’s address a : motion urging Parliament to give effect to the report of the Commission, of 1924 was carried unanimpuslyvv j .-■■y.-, >

‘ THE PARTIES.

Sq. far nothing, has occurred in the „ House of Representatives to suggest * that either of the Oppositions—Reform 'or Labour—is. anxious to bring about a collision with the Government which «ni|jiii entail in the near future another preference to the constituencies. Mr David Jones, the member for Mid-Can-terbury, and Mr R. A. Wright, the member for Wellington Suburbs, held up vitho Imprest Supply Bill for an -unconscionable time on' Saturday morning? with recitals of the misdemeanours vbf the Prime Minister in particular and 'his-followers in general; but the temper •of jan attenuated House was : as often against them as with theni. At the moment the strength of the United Rarty lies in the acut& be-. twe?n Reform and Labour and these 'differences do not seem likely to becbffife less acute as the session proigresfees. Future developments cannot "be very confidently predicted,-but at itlie moment it looks as if Sir Joseoh T AVard, given good health, will reach the prorogation without disaster.

, : LAtND ADMINISTRATION. ; The debate on the Address-in-Reply j was opened in the House of RepresenHaiives last night by Mr . A. Bodkin, j tlife member for Central Otago, with a f very sweeping denunciation of tbe land i policy and administration of the Re\fofm Government. If Mr Bodkin’s allegations are substantiated by facts, Mr } Coates, who,is to speak his piece,in the. *■ Epise this evening, will find himself :i confronted- by an. extremely difficult }i|hsk. The land problem is so closely j associated 1 : with, the unemployment problem that all sections of the House take a keen interest in its solution, and the party that fails to “make Ijtaod ” in this controversy will suffer in public opinion. Mr Bodj kin stated bluntly in the course of his V'spdech that the late Government had factually allowed wealthy squatters to inform limited liability companies in 'order that they might hold large areas ,?qf land and that a limited liability I Company might consist of a man and |jiis wife! And so on and so on.