The National Finances

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 31, 6 February 1937, Page 4

The National Finances

Interim returns gazetted tins week show a healthy state in the national finances for the first three quarter’s of the current financial year. There appears a certainty that the Minister of Finance will close his first year with a balanced budget and earn thereby the usual congratulations. There is a sharp contrast between public and private expenditure. Private individuals have to budget their expenditure to come within the limits of their income. A public body, particularly the State, decides first how much it would like to spend and only after that docs it contemplate “where is the money to come from?” One of the strongest criticisms of the past Government was that, in balancing its budget, it unbalanced everyone else’s. To a considerable extent the same criticism may be applied to the present powers that be. There are no more citizens now than then, but they are carrying an even greater burden of taxation. Admittedly, the national income lias risen, not due to anything the politicians have done for us all, but solely due to a fortuitous rise in the world price level. Almost any sized budget can be balanced if the taxes be piled on high enough, but a Government is best judged by the efficient economy of its administration, not by its budget surplus. There is a feeling generally throughout the country, and one that is instinctively sound, that the present tax burden is bearable whilst prices are good, but if they drop, what then?