The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 15, 1920. GOVERNMENT TAXATION PROPOSALS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3579, 15 September 1920, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE.

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 15, 1920. GOVERNMENT TAXATION PROPOSALS.

With which is incorporated 'The Taihape Post and Waimarinq News "

From reading reports in daily newspapers of discussions inside and outside of Parliament on the Government's taxation demands for the current year, the question arises as to what section of the community is to furnish the huge sum of money required to satisfy an over-voracious Minister of Finance. In "Current History" there is a cartoon which could well ba» utilised by the present Government, and published broadcast as a full, complete, and final answer to all criticism. The huge burden is hung upon a staff, one end being supported on the shoulder of production, the other on the shoulder of commercialism. Production is leading with his back to the taxation load and does not see that the crafty commercialist has pushed it right down to near his shoulders, almost entirely removing all weight'from the cbmmercialist end. Production js in obvious difficulty, stumbling, and pushed along by the burly, grinning figure behind him. who, of course, has the usual big cigar in his mouth, and his hands in his pockets. The more this statement of the taxation situation is looked at and pondered over in conjunction with newspaper reports of commercialist discussios on taxation problems, the more it becomes evident that the men alone able to bear taxation would delay the taxation of everything until everything "taxable was either going into the mouths, or on to the backs, of the masses of the people, who are at the present moment looking forward with deepest concern to • an enormous increase in the cost of living which is now only a very few short weeks ahead. Commercialism has the Government of its choice, and when that fact is taken into consideration the intent of all the fuss about prejudice, unfair and dishonest taxation may be taken as mere noise, made to make the masses believe that more than what is just and reasonable is being demanded of them. The ordinary farmer, the producer, in that useful class who count most when the values of production are being reckoned j up. is making little or no complaint ' about the assessment of his taxation. Again, strange to notice, it is from the ranks of the very largest and wealthiest land-owners that the Government has to meet an attack against allegedly unfair taxation. Big landowners are joining issues with commercialists in combating the audacity of the Government in assuming that money invested in non-interest bearing State loans should not be regarded as having Jbeen entirely wiped out of all categories of value; it is even doubtful whether those people would not have those millions expunged from the sum total of the countrys wealth. No doubt they would only for the fact that their right to interest thereon might be successfully attacked. They are wailing and complaining because the Minister of Finance has not yet dis- ! covered means of elimiatlng free of income tax loan money entirely from the category of wealth for all purposes except that for earning the free of income tax interest. The desire is that in addition to being free of income tax it should not be counted as wealth at all, and therefore should not have any connection with assessments in fixing the graduated scale applicable fo wealth. The contention is that free of income tax loan money should also be made to render the

graduated taxation of wealth inoperative. It is apparent ihat had the money been invested in any other security protests of thy nature would have been ridiculous. Bonds scrip!, and certificates are being used for profit-earing purposes; they arc finding a place in finance and trade, paying for commodities and land purchased, and as security in other trading and financial transactions. TITe money invested in free of income tax loans is represented by securities that are noticeably negotiable, but anything they earn should not be classed as income is what the holders thereof claim. There may be some justification for the claim, but it is not read- , ily apparent to most people. The one ! great fact that matters is, that the money required by the Minister of Finance has to be forthcoming, and yet our patriots have apparently degenerated into a struggling tumult fighting to avoid paying anything towards keeping up a prosperity, which they alone as a class, are in full enjoyment of. By a system of purchasing farms and sub-dividing them for sol- ( dier settlement thy "Government has" put the axe into its tax production. Large estates near centres t)f population that were great sources of taxation now contribute little or nothing, and much of the money paid for such properties i s in the form of free of income tax bonds and scrips. Therefore, much of the money as well as the land has passed out of calculation as contributors of taxation. It is probably safe to say that millions of money have thus become non-tax producing. The only section of the community which is not howling about taxation is that great body, the masses of the people, who pay indirect taxation. It is truly alarming from an economic viewpoint to note' the huge increase of customs duties as compared with all other sources of revenue. Jt seems as though all hitherto observed conduct of the public business has been scrapped and most sections are indecently scrambling and struggling for the last penny they can get out of the scrap-heap. When the melee is over what will meet the eye? Nobody is willing to pay anything, or if they pay a shilling it is with the idea of purchasing a pound therewith. Every class is resenting being taxed to carry on an administration upon which their very existece depends. Men are struggling to rid themselves of taxation, not knowing or caring whei'e taxation comes from, or who pays it. It is one of those alarmingly unhealthy signs of the times which have been accentuated and aggravated, by the greatest of known wars. Economically, the world is suffering from shellshock, and New Zealand does not show any signs of recovering from the exceedingly severe recurrences of attack. The indications are that the Authorities will persist in trying, to take blood from the stone upon which they tr3 r to permanetly fix the onus of finding the money necessary for the State's upkeep, until the stone bursts with the pressure and convulses the whole economic machinery with dismay and disaster. It is a condition that must eventually bring about its own extinction, for in Russian Sovietism is only seen a reflex of the seizure of government in ofTier countries by capitalism. Both Soveltism and Commercialism have allied themselves with materialism; innately self-corroding combinations, setting up a house divided against itself which cannot stand.