THE BUS REGULATIONS.

Putaruru Press, Volume IV, Issue 142, 22 July 1926, Page 4

THE BUS REGULATIONS.

The public has some excuse for feeling a little bewildered when it thinks of the Government’s management of the problem it set itself when, in defiance of all disinterested warnings, it accepted the extremely bad advice of its officials and persisted in invoking against the bus industry an Act whose purpose was to protect this amongst other legitimate businesses. The Act under which the bus regulations were made stipulated that the regulations should be presented to Parliament within fourteen days of the commencement of the session. This has not been done. Instead, the Government has referred the regulations to a Select Committee, and one may assume that in doing this the Government admits that the regulations ought to be revised, probably amended, possibly sentenced to death. And yet these regulations are supposed at the present moment to be the law of the land. That this is a situation unsatisfactory from every point of view nobody is likely to deny, and that it is a situation that ought to be ended forthwith by the i ssi-1 s of an

iutipns ’by the general populace—the. consumers of the services offered by these taxpayers ; or else, .his investments may be in tax-free bonds, or .stock of the Government.

“ In pre-war days the Incidence, of income tax did not receive much, consideration. The rates then, paid (6d. in the 1 £' by individuals and double that by companies) did not warrant any concern. The heavy national expenditure incurred through the war necessitated the Government obtaining its vastly-increased requirementsspeedily and effectively, and income tax was selected chiefly to- achieve this, purpose. The rate rose rapidly from pre-war amounts to a maximum of 8s 9 3-5 d in the £, which, because assessable income differed from a trading profit account, generally meant a contribution to the State of say 10s in the £ of the trader’s income where the maximum tax had to be paid. It is to be' borne in mind that the bulk of the tax from traders is obtained from companies, and that these companies, with their many shareholders, largely holding in small amounts, in order to pay a reasonable rate of dividend, must make profits on which the maximum tax Is payable. This heavy taxation was shown to be a burden on the community and a stifler of trade. Commissions for inquiry into this question were set up by the Government, and as a result of these the rate of tax has gradually been reduced, until at the present time it is Is 6d in the £ maximum rate.

“ Another interesting recommendation of these Commissions is that the tax should be removed from companies and be paid instead by the shareholders in these insofar as the dividends received by the shareholders are concerned. It was deemed inadvisable to accomplish this at once, but from data now being collated by the Land and Income Tax Department it would appear that preparation is being made at least to test the possibility of carrying out this recommendation of the Commissions, if not of actually enforcing it. It is to be hoped that enforcement will eventuate, because it is believed herein lies in some measure a reduction in the cost of living th rough a more equilnble distribution