LICENSING TRADE

Hokitika Guardian, 13 July 1933, Page 5

LICENSING TRADE

/REDUCTION OF DUTIES SOUGHT

FROM TARIFF COMMISSION,

(Per Press Issn'ciation — Copyriyhl.)

WELLINGTON, July 12

The general position of the licensed trade in New Zealand was placed before the Tariff Commission to-day with a view to the ■reduction of the excise a)i<l- customs duties. It W% contended that" the. progressive increase in the duties, the consequent fall in .consumption and the drop in revenue might be taken as a classic example of diminishing returns due to over-taxation.

The trade it was stated produced one fifth of the tola) customs and excise revenue, .and had been called upon to carry a, disproportionate load. Mr Percy Coyle, general secretary of the national council of the licensed ti’acle) of New Zealand, said that their main ground for reduction lay in the fact that the last increase in taxation had meant not an increase in revenue, but a loss. The decline wag so marked that it could not be accounted for by depression influences and in the case of spirits, the 1931 increase of the tax, imposed as a budget balancing device, had dragged thei revenue down to the lowest figure for ten years. The beer returns showed <a> slight rise in revenue, but a consumption ch'op was recorded, and it wa,s still unchecked, ar.d the revenue would inevitably follow it, unless the excise was lowered. A comparison with Great Britain whose legislation wo had followed, showed tho same dinvnution in the returns due to high taxation.

Mr Coyle submitted that the trade deserved consideration as a contribution to the- national income of from one to two millions annually. He contended that it was fa'lacious to re-

gard the licensed trade from a revenue viewpoint alone, for it kept an army of men fnd ‘millions of capital in employ. Ha.’f million pounds v r as paid annually in wages by the brewers alone.

Mr Coyle urged the commission to take no account of the vexed question of the morality or otherwise of selling and cons uni ping liquor. This bad been answered conclusively bv the country in 1923. An additional set. bek to tho licensed trade had been caused

'by Ehe high taxation. The homebrowing of iale bad received a great ■impetus on ‘account of the cheapness. The state obtained little or no revenue from th ; .s source, and the trad'’, which wa-s expected to produce revenue, competed with an untaxed product.