HOW HUNS WILL PAY

Taihape Daily Times, 29 April 1919, Page 2

HOW HUNS WILL PAY

PRETTY PROBLEMS FOR GERMAN TAXPAYERS.

Hon Schiffer, the Gonnan Secretary of the Treasury, recently spoke before a crowded meeting in Berlin on Germany's financial future. The following points from his speech are taken from the "Frankfurter Zeitung":—The

new system of government is much dearer than the old one. The Soldiers' and Workmen's Council has spent £40,000,000 in a fortnight, mostly in the form of increased wages and al-

lowances. Government Stores are being sold at ridiculously low prices. All production, is at a standstill, German credit abroad is endangered, and foreign banks will no longer discount bills of exchange drawn by great German banks. To obtain money to meet Germany's enormous liabilities the war levy on the profits of great undertakings must be increased from 60 to 80 per cent. The system of levying a war tax on private persons must be entirely reconstructed. Fortunes made in war industries must be taxed .out of existence. Large incomes of all kinds must bear the bulk of the burden. Death dues must be increased for which purpose the financial position of the heirs must also be Rooked into. A heavy tax must be lmpCseu on tea, tobacco and sugar, and the luxury tax elaborated. But this will nof suffice; many forms of industrial undertakings must be taken over by the State