TAXES TOO HIGH

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 681, 5 June 1929, Page 18

TAXES TOO HIGH

AUSTRALIAN COMPLAINT GROWTH OF INDUSTRIES “Taxation in New South Wales is too high, but so far thero is no indication of any reduction.” This statement, made by Mr. Alexander Colquhoun, managing directer of a firm of jute merchants of that name, seems to express the general opinion of Australian business men at the present time. Mr. Colquhoun says that New South Wales and Queen.slh.nd are the two most heavily-taxed States in the Commonwealth, and that many firms and individuals are finding it difficult to keep afloat. He arrived by the Marama from Sydney last evening on a business and pleasure trip to the Dominion, accompanied by Mrs. Colquhoun. Although he retired from business a short time ago he will meet merchants throughout New Zealand. When Mr. Colquhoun left Sydney the timber strike was ending. Business was very quiet, he said, though the secondary industries were forging ahead, particularly outside Sydney, along the banks of the Parramatta River.

As an instance of this, the visitor mentioned that the Goodyear tyre people employed about 1.000 men in their factory, and the Ford firm about 200. A factory for the production of cream of tartar, the only one in Australia or New Zealand, was doing very well and numerous other concerns weer establishing plants there. The general opinion in Australia regarding the Arbitration Court was that it had seen its best days. The court had not been the beneficial factor it should have been and it was generally admitted by business men that it had come to a dead end.