A GRADUATED LEVY.

Putaruru Press, Volume VIII, Issue 354, 4 September 1930, Page 4

A GRADUATED LEVY.

On the question of contributions generally the Leader of the Labour Party was reasonable in his attitude. He did not seek exemption of workers. His proposal to substitute a graduated levy for the flat rate is supported in part by the Commissioners’ recommendation of a levy of 24s annually on adult males receiving less than £3OO a year and a penny in the pound income tax on individual taxable incomes and individual company profits. It is embodied also in the Government’s Bill, since the Government will contribute half of the expenditure (instead of one-third as proposed by the Commissioner) and will draw that half from the Consolidated Fund, which is contributed by income taxpayers on a graduated scale. While this subsidy is provided for it is quite wrong to say that the wealthy man pays only as much as the poor man for unemployment. The Commissioner, we believe, proposed the earmarked income tax as a direct check upon the fund and upon new demands from it. There is much to be said for that check. A man will allow expenditure for which he pays indirectly to grow without protest, hut he will be more vigilant if he pays directly. Against this the Government raises two objections; that the graduated levy would be expensive to collect, and that it is unsound to mark off sections of the national taxing field for special purposes. We do not dispute the soundness of these -arguments; but it is a weakness of the scheme, to our mind, that so much of the finance is to come from the Consolidated Fund. The contributory principle must be maintained and even strengthened. It is the main safeguard against a dole development. —Wellington Evening Post.