TAXATION BURDENS

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 398, 3 April 1937, Page 5

TAXATION BURDENS

BANKS’ ATTITUDE. TREATMENT UNDER LABOUR. New Zealand’s Legislative Experiments. Press Association—Copyright. Received 10.1 5 a.m. London, April 2. Lieutenant-Colonel Livingstone Lermonth, presiding at the annual meeting of the Bank of Australasia, referred with satisfaction to the higher price* for wool and wheat, and the substantial taxation relief, which was encouraging to enterprise in Australia. “If the trade expansion had been met by a corresponding increase in the currency,” he said, “the balance-sheet figure* would probably have shown an increase, but the authorities were apprehensive of the boom and apparently anxious to avoid inflation, with the result that while our funds enabled us to meet legitimate demands and advances, speculation was checked.” Colonel Learmonth endorsed the advice of the Commonwealth advisers in London, that it was unwise at present to seek loans in Britain, and added: “The New Zealand Government’s laudable desire for better living conditions has led to experiments which should be fully explored before being developed.” It was difficult to see how the price paid to the producers could be artificially maintained above world prices without creating unbearable taxation burdens and raising the internal price level, counteracting the advantages to producers. “The banks,” Colonel Learmonth continued, “hope to receive more equitable treatment from the present Labour Government than from it* predecessors in the matter of taxation. The inequity of the present method of levying on hypothetical profits has been admitted by more than one National Government, but not remedied. We are now promised that the authorities will investigate the matter.”