The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 1917. "THE FINANCE ACT."

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 30 August 1917, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 1917. "THE FINANCE ACT."

(With which is incorporated The Tai hape Post and Waimaifino News).

At no time in the history of the country has any measure introduced into Parliament, bearing upon the national finances, been awaited with such anxiety and interest by the people as a whole than that brought down by the Minister of Finance on Tuesday afternoon. In 'fact, since the adoption of our constitution, with the initiatory details it involved, it is doubtful whether anything in the shape of a finance measure has ever been introduced that is so far-reaching and drastic in its provisions. No honest patriot will,"however, deny that it is a well-thought out effort to define the duty of money and to compel the observance of that duty. That part of the Bill dealing with the War Loan is, of course, that which is causing a great deal of flutter in many dovecotes. It is aJI this journal has suggested it should be with the one exception —it is not mandatory. The very fact that a man or a company not having subscribed to any war loan does not mean that the machinery of compulsory clauses is set in motion, but the Commissioner of Taxes, who has rather an, extensive list of companies and individuals who have not performed their duty in this respect, is given the power by the Minister only to serve a notice on such and cause them to pay up or appear before an Appeal! Board consisting of himself and two others, but he is the final judge against whose findings there is no appeal. It is the first real attempt made to conscript wealth, and in that respect it should be regarded as the in establishing more clearly in the minds of us all that life and property, no matter who possesses it, is owned by the State. The first reading of the Bill was listened too in silence, and only on the Minister’s explanations were there a few interjections by members and they were all in support of the mesaure. Where the conscription dicers from that of men is in its operations not being mandatory. The conscripted life has to appeal before a public court to plead exemption, money is treated more tenderly. It only comes before the court established by instructions from the Minister and from him alone. The

whole business of a farmer called up by ballot, if he wants time to put his affairs in order, is compelled to disclose all his financial affairs,, his debts, mortgages, income, prospects, everything he owns and, in a measure, what he is likely to own. There is. no tenderness displayed about making public property of his private business affairs, and why money should be treated otherwise is not quite understandable. But this pretended secrecy is just a farce; everybody will know who is taken before the Commissioner of Taxes, and made to pay up. Sir Joseph gave instances of companies and individuals not having paid anything towards the war. He did not disclose their indentity which, by the way, is quite an open secret. Anyone who cares to know may learn who the money-shirker is almost as readily as he can find who are military shirkers. So that men who have not yet

contributed to either War Loan may calculate their relationship to com-

pulsion, the Minister instanced actual cases from the list of shirkers. One is a company having an assessable income of £265,018, whose land and income tax, exclusive of -the excess profits tax now repeated, for the year ending March 31st, 1917, is £49,636; the quota this company will have to pay, if not already contributed to this year’s loan, is three times that total, or £148,908; and if no contribution was made to last year’s loan, an additional payment of one and a haM times the amount of its taxation —£74,454, making a total of £222,000 this company will have to pay to' the War Loan. The smaller man with an assessable income of £IOOO, and who pays only £39 in taxes, his quota, for 1917 would be £.117, and for 1916, £SB, a total of £175. We arc rather afraid that the machinery of compulsion being operated solely by the Minister will result in very uneven running, and it may tend to bring upon his shoulders a load of trouble that may prove irksome to carry. However, there is the old saving clause: The GoVcrnor-General may by Order-in-Council make such regulations as are deemed necessary for giving effect to the provisions of the Act. It is indeed gratifying to see that the Minister has realised that to tax' the sixpenny amusement ticket would be to unduly seize from the very poorest in the land something mare drastic than compulsion with respect to the War Loan. It need scarcely be said that men wfth monejy can frjtely find amusement and they will spend as many pounds a w T eck without it being directly taxed and to tax the sixpenny admission ticket of the very poor would have indeed been a hardship. The Finance Bill provides that any admission ticket for which a sum greater than that of sixpence is paid, exclusive of the tax, is taxed to the extent of one penny; the tax to increase with the price paid for the ticket. Another contentious feature of the Finance Act is that dealing with Beer Duties. The contentiousness of the measure does not rest so much in the increase of duty to be paid, but in the rather unusual course taken of regulating the trade in -other than finance aspects, amongst what are usually regarded as purely finance proposals. We should not have referred to this little bit of tacking on of something that ought to be relegated to a Licensing Bill, only that we are convinced the House will not allow it to become law. We think Sir Joseph Ward has been prevailed upon by Cabinet as a whole to do something in which Cabinet is not sincere. From discussions on Six O ’Clock Closing of Hotels, Parliament has shown that it is opposed to adopting that hour, but that it would agree to an hour or two later. It may be, however, that the Minister has determined to give members an entirely free hand on the question, more especially as he is aware that an almost irresistible demand will) be made for wet canteens in camps if six o'clock is fixed as the closing hour. Whatever the opponents of liquor may do, they will find it very dangerous to endeavour to make drink prohibitory to one section of the community while others have free access to it. We believe, that any such effort will throw back the cause for which they arc contending. Members of Parliament, whatever, their opinions may be about drink being a curse, must first be just in making the country’s laws. IjO abolish the sate of intoxicants altogether would operate on all alike, but to adopt a course that would make one section prohibitionists while aid ‘Others could get all they pleased, is obviously unjust, and the House will do notching of the kind.