THE Pukekohe and Waiuku Times PUBLIBHED MONDAYS, WEDNESDAYS AND FRIDAYS. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1915 THE REVISED BUDGET.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 90, 1 October 1915, Page 2

THE Pukekohe and Waiuku Times PUBLIBHED MONDAYS, WEDNESDAYS AND FRIDAYS.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1915 THE REVISED BUDGET.

"We nothing extenuate, nor set down auaht in malice."

The National Government's first Budget has now been plter.d \a form very considerably, and though still a very bng way from a "square deal" has become a little fairer in iti incidet.ee than it was in ita original form. Sir Joseph Ward, jielding to the j.cpular clamour, has now decided to drcp tbe proposed tax upon kerosene and petrol, an I to impose in its place a primage duty of one per cent on all imports, estimated to pr:duce £200,000 per annum, or £6OOO more than was expected from the petrol tax. This is certainly a st-p in tbe right direction, as it will spread the ta'x more or leas fairly over the wholi population instead of leavirg it ti be borne by those, almost all inhabitants of the country district?, who have to depend upon kerosene and otaer mineral oils fur lighting, cooking and motive power. An increased mortgage tax is imposed, Sir Joseph Ward having discovered that the income tax imposed up in farmers woulj result in £BO,'JOO less accruing to the revenue than he h-d criginaily estimated. B.inging the mortgage tax up to oac penny in the pound instead of threc-farthirgs would bring in £65,000, and this will now be imposed, with the addition of ii:c:me tax on the interest dcuved from morcgagfs when the income from that source reaches a sum on which income tax would be higher than mortgage tax. This latter tax is ts.imated to produce £30,000 annually. It seems almost unnecessary to say that it will be pas-:ed on to the buirower, in the shape of about one-half of one per cent, which will, roughly, cover it. The gigantic monopoly given to the Drewers, a free gift from the State which runs annually into figures largely in excess of the amount required for war taxation, is to pay £15,000 per year in shape of additional beer duty, but the tax on spirits id still to remain at twopence ptr bottle as at first proposed, and the intended tax on non-alcoholic beverages has been wisely swept away, lhe total remissions amount to £314,000 and the total gains under the new proposals £310,000.

A tax of one per cent upon all stakes won on the racecourse and a tax on totalisator dividends are steps in the right direction, but we would gladly also have seen a small tix paid on all admission tickets to racecourses, and indeed all places of amusement. It is rather amusing to see that in the totalisator dividend tax the Government are, quite unconsciously, no doubt, taking a hand in ore of those gambling games that New Zealand Government are supposed to set their faces so vigorously against.

We are astonished that when the Government found it necessary to revise their proposals they did not lower the exemption in the income tax. As things at present stand no one receiving an income of £3OO a year is called upon to pay arything directly to the war taxes, even if he is a bachelor with no one but himself to support. It would be futile to pretend that such a one is not in a position to be called upon to help to save the country from an enemy who, if successful, would turn him into a lax paying serf. Between the lirsl and second taxation proposals of our National Government the war tax budget of

tbe British National Government was brought down, and it is interesting to note now vastly it differentiates from our own in its honest attempt at a democratic equalisation of burdens to the strength of the backs that have to bear them. Large incomes are tc be taxed to the extent ot one-third of their amount, but all except the extremely poor will be called upon to contribute something directly to the cost of trie war, for the exemption is reduced to £Bo. There is no attempt to mulct one class in order that others may go free, or to relieve the towns at the expense of the country.