INCIDENCE OF WAGE AND SALARY TAX.

Rotorua Morning Post, 31 August 1931, Page 5

INCIDENCE OF WAGE AND SALARY TAX.

Tlie omorgeney. imemploymont charg'e of ihreepence in each coni'piete pound of salary or wages earned (or one pennv in each Gs 8d) is payable by almost every recipieni of payment for services. All remuneration whellier in cash or kind is liahlo for tlie charge, and the lalter has io be valued. In the case of an allowanee in respect of service, the line of distinction of a laxalile aliowauce is whether it is in tlie ua ture of a reimhursement or simply for service not. roquiring any expcntlilure to earn it. If ihe whole of the allowahce is for the personal benetit of the reeipient ihe whole is faxable. Where the value of hoard and lodging, or hoard only, or allowances, is included 111' the salary or wage the tax is payable on such value plus the aelual wage or salary paid. I11 cases whe.re free hoard and lodging are given an industrial worker the value of fhe lioaVd and lodging is to he assessed at £1 per weck: if meals only are provided their value is to he recIconed at 1 s each. Such workers include hotel employees. Tlie Unemployment Amendmenf Act. 1931, exempts from the opcration of the tax women. and girls in private domcstie service, and the Unemployment Board has -decided that such service moans domestic service in private cfwellings only. The fact that one or two boarders are lcept will not I11 itself take an estahlisljment out of the "private dwe'lling 11 class, but if tlie keeping of boarders is ihe main purpose of tlie estahlisli-' ment, it. ceases io be a "private dwelling," and the emergency unemployment charge must J)e deducted from the wages of domestic servants employed therein. Board and lodging supplied to fernaln domestics .employed in sehool hosfels, orphanages, hospitals, and charitable institutions (if not suh.iect to an»award) should he valued at 17s, (j(l per weok. Board and residence supplied to a teacher or professional employee must he valued at a reasonable figure, depending on circumstances, with a ininimum of £1 per week. House ailowances and the fair rental value of free houses are also suhject to this tax. Fapm-Mforkers' Share. The tax is payable 011 paymonis to share-milkers where such represent remuneration for labour only. Where the relationship hetween ihe farmer and Ihe share-milker is that, of.a pavtnersiiip, payrnenfs made hy fhe farmer to the-sh.are-milker are not tnxahle as salary or wages. l;ut both farmer and share-milker wiil he liahlo with respect to ihe tax on income olher than salary or wages. In the case of mnrried couples employed on l'arms, where the wife is engaged in domestic iluties, ihe tax must ha paid on half of tlie joint, remuneration (inelusive of tlie value of hoard and/or r loitging) . Where payments (o drovers incHule an allowance for tlie use of liorses and dogs, fhe tax is Io he assessed on a sum of 15s per day, or two-thmls of tlm total payment, whicliever is 1 1 1 > greater. "One often wonders if the -stress laid on mathematics and Ianguages by examiners is not due to case in correciing," said Miss Y. Blakey, of the Selwyn Ilouse Sehool staff, Canterhury, addressing a meeting of Ihe Parents1 National Education tlnion. ^"They have only to run a peneil down what is on paper and cross out, what is wrong. The marking of piec.es of continuous prfse would nol he so easy for hard-pressed examiners."