TAXES OPPOSED

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1038, 31 July 1930, Page 12

TAXES OPPOSED

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE HITS OUT AT GOVERNMENT INCREASE IN UNEMPLOYMENT Strong exception to the Government’s action in raising taxes and tariffs as a means o£ acquiring further revenue was taken at a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce held this morning. It was decided to forward to the Government the following motion, tabled by Mr. A. G. Limn:

‘ That this chamber expresses the strongest disapproval of the action taken by the Government in increasing the already heavy burden of taxation by means of increased taxation and tariffs, which action must tend to further curbing the expansion of business and increasing unemployment. The interests of the country demand rather that there should have been serious economies exercised in administration and social services involving curtailment of expenditure in all departments." It was decided that this resolution be passed on to (he Prime Minister and that it be forwarded to all other chambers, seeking their support. Mr. Lunn said that the Chamber represented at least 700 of the largest tax payers and it was its duty to take the question up seriously. For seven years the chamber had impressed upon the Government the need for a decrease in taxes and now, when unemployment was rife and the financial position of the country was far from its best,- it imposed extra taxation and protection which would not increase revenue or solve the problem of unemployment. “The country is over-inspected and over-governed and until we get such a Government out we will get no relief and will soon be in the same position as Australia,” said Mr. Lunn. "We have to pay these extra taxes to amend for the mistakes in the past and there is no indication that this sort of thing is going to stop here.” Other members also voiced their disapproval of the Government’s actions.

Mr. Malcolm Stewart, president, read a report from a past-president of the chamber, in which several suggestions were made. The report stated: “While the chamber appreciates the necessity of balancing the Budget, the business community is not at all satisfied that the Government fully realises the necessity of reducing expenditure rather than Increasing taxation on industry, which is already overloaded. It is common knowledge that many of the Government departments are overstaffed, and although it is not suggested that reductions in staff should he made when unemployment is causing much hardship, it would remove much anxiety regarding the future if the Government announced that no new appointments would be made to tht' Public Service except in cases of urgent necessity. By this means, the overstaffing could be checked, and reduction would automatically take place. “Further taxation must of necessity result in increased unemployment. While the merchants and industrialists are prosperpus when wages are high, they realise th it the time has arrived when all classes must realise that as profits have fallen and the prices of exportable produce have shown a marked reduction so wages and salaries and rents must inevitably be shaded to meet the altered conditions. Considering the world economic position this chamber emphatically protests against the waste of money involved in building uneconomic new railways until those now in use can show a working profit—if this policy is insisted upon there is every reason to anticipate the financial position of the Dominion approaching a crisis during tho next few years. "If our primary exports are to realise lower prices for some years, and there is some reason to fear this, the present system of paying 14s a day on relief wr sis an extravagance we cannot affo.u and is in itself an economic blunder, inasmuch as this wage draws competent men from the farms whose places cannot be filled by men with little or no farming experience.’’