SALES TAX YIELD

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 219, 16 August 1937, Page 12

SALES TAX YIELD

CONTINUED EXPANSION,

FIGURES FOR SIX AIONTHS,

The sales tax, first imposed in Alarch, 1933, has proved a good barometer of internal trade in general merchandise. The amount collected in June of this year was £283,094, a decrease of £26,702 on the total for Alav, hut an increase of £41,940 over the figure for June, 1936. A record of £309,796 was established in Alay. Although the yields in the mid-year months are not usually the highest, returns from sales tax have been particularly buoyant in recent months. The figures for each of the first six months of this year are considerably in advance of the corresponding months last year. With merchants expecting a record Christmas turnover and the general loosening of pursestrings which has been noticeable Intel}”, particularly in respect to luxury lines which are heavily taxed, the total for this year should again set a record. Already collections for the first half of the year amount to £1,673,664, an increase of over 25 per cent, over the total in the same period last year. The following table compares the collections for the first six months of the past two years : 1 . 1936. 1937.

•Record. The sales tax occupies a position of ever-increasing importance to the Consolidated Fund. In the national accounts for 1936-37 it was exceeded only by Customs, income tax and stamp and death duties. Out of a total of £29,941 000 collected in taxation, sales tax accounted for £3,045,000, or about. 10 per cent. If tho present rate of vncreaso is maintained, the yield tor the full financial year should easily exceed this figure.

... 233.108 294,431 February ... ... 186,875 194.624 March ... 206,101 ... 234,491 296,637 295,082 Mav . 233,493 309,796* June .. 241.154 283,094