TAXATION STRAIN

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 145, 11 February 1932, Page 6

TAXATION STRAIN

COST OF GOVERNMENT FIGURES IN CANADA ARE CAUSING CONCERN REACHING BREAKING POINT. VANCOUVER. ' The traditional family of five — husband, wife, and three children — on whom ecpnomists and statisticians base their • researches and findings is feeling, more and more, the burden of the high cost of government. In 1912, this average family, living | in an average town, had a fairly easy path to follow. The total of the annual taxes it paid was £33. Two years after the war, the figure had risen to £81. Last year it was £102. The family pays in three ways — into federal, provincial, and municipal treasuries. The following table shows the trend of expenditure per family of five persons: —

The increase of 145 per cent. be- j tween 1912 and 1920 was blamed on the war. The family stoically accepted it. The greater freedom of youth, the rise of radicalisjn, jazz, the "movies," higher taxes — these were among the multitude of sins which were bared by the war. John Citizen paid the bill, and bent his back to the heavy tasks associated with that phase of his existence dignified by the economists and the statisticians by the high-sounding phrase, "post-war reconstruction." "Cheer up, John," they counselled, "you've reached bedrock; things can't get worse!" Mounting Cost. But things have got worse — 25 per cent. worse. And John • Citizen has begun to wave the economist aside, and do some thinking for himself. Here are some of the facts he has discovered: — | The biggest business in Canada' is the business of government. About 15 per cent. of the people of Canada gain their living, directly or indirectly, from the Government. . More people work for the Federal, Provincial, and Municipal Governments than work'in all the 6000 factories in Canada-s 22 leading manufacturing centres. Business concerns are bending every effort to reduce costs and eliminate waste and extravagance. One compahy alone, the Canadian Pacific Railway, is spending £700,000 a month, less on operations than in 1928. Yet the cost of government goes up. In 1912 John Citizen paid in taxes one day's wages or salary out of ten. In 1920 he worked one day in five to pay his taxes. This enormous drain has been retained for 1930. Between 1912 and 1930, population increased 32 per cent.; public expenditure increased 230 per cent. — more than seven times as fast. Reachiqg. Breaking Point. The Government of Canada to-day collects more in one year in Toronto than it collected in all Canada in one year before the war. On a packet of cigarettes to-day the tax is higher ; than the entire retail price of the cigarettes before the war. John Citizen pays Federal taxes on incomej on cheques, on every commodity he buys (through the saies tax), on ■ transfers of stock, on money orders, on matches, on letters, on post-cards, on business profits. And, at the point of writing, the Federal Government is contemplating a turn-over tax on business and manufacture. It is impossible for the wit of man — economist or statistician — to conceive any new fields of taxation which the Federal Government may invade. The Provinces, in 1912, were able to get along nicely on Federal subsidies and revenues from natural resources. But since then they have shown greater ingenuity in devising new forms of taxation than any other taxing authority. Municipal taxes have grown to an * unbelievable extent. In the average town the municipal tax per capita increased from 1885 to 1912 from £2 12s 6d to £2 14s. In 1931, it had grown to £8 8s. The increase since 1912 is £31 per family of five. John Citizen, faced by these startling facts, is raising his weak, humble voice, in the hope the politicians may hearlcen to his plea for a reduction in public expenditure. There are signs that the poor fellow is beginning to be heard in high places.

1912 1920 1930 £ s. cl. £ s. cl. £ s. d. Dominion .... 14 00 41 003950 -Province .... 5 10 0 10 5 0 18.15 0 Municipality 13 10 0 29 15 0 44 0 0 Total .... £33 0 0 81 0 0 102 0 0