REVENUE INCREASES

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 442, 25 May 1937, Page 6

REVENUE INCREASES

SURPLUS £472,000 New Zealand’s Budget Press Association —Copyright. Wellington, May 24. The New Zealand public accounts for the year ended on March 31 have been completed and, subject to audit examination which is now in progress, the surplus of revenue over expenditure totals £472,000. This announcement was made today by Hon. P. Fraser, acting-Minister of Finance. The detailed accounts will be published in the Gazette at a later date, but in the meantime the following are the main headings of revenue and expenditure compared with the Budget estimates: Taxation Revenue.

'lndicates shortage. In the total the revenue exceeded the Budget estimate by only £BO,OOO, although individual items indicated a greater variation. Thus income tax and Customs exceeded the estimates by £619,000 and £399,000 respectively ,which headings were mainly responsible for the excess of £924,000 in the total taxation. This excess was, however, offset to the extent of £844,000 by shortages in interest recoveries and other receipts, resulting in the nett excess of revenue of £BO,OOO. With regard, to expenditure the year’s results compared with the appropriations are as follows: Permanent Appropriations. Appropria- Expention. diture. Saving £ £ £ Debt services 9,259,000 9,380,000 *121,000 Highways 2,512,000 2,509,000 3,000 Exchange 1,455,000 1,581,000 *126,000 Other services 619,000 ~ 618,000 1,000 i Totals 13,845,000 14,088,000 *243,000 Annual Appropriations. Social services 10,484,000 9,913,000 517,000 Other votes .. 6,733.000 6,674,000 59,000 Totals 17,217,000 16,587,000 630,000 Total 31,062,000 30,675,000 387,000 I These statistics indicate expenditure to the extent of £243,000 in exlcess of appropriations in respect of ' permanent appropriations and savings of £630,000 in annual appropriations, resulting in a nett saving of £387,000. It will be seen from these results that the saving effected in regard to expenditure was mainly responsible for the total nett surplus of £472,000 for the year. Income tax and Customs reflect a substantial improvement in business conditions generally, while on the other hand careful control has been maintained over ail forms of expend!* ture.

Conservative Estimate « In his preliminary anouncement prior to his departure for England the then acting-Minister of Finance, Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, said that a surplus of £lOO,OOO had been estimated. This amount was conservatively based on 11 months’ results, whereas in fact the revenue for March exceeded expectations, while the nett saving in expenditure was greater than anticipated, resulting in the surplus now disclosed. “While we have every cause for satisfaction at the very gratifying outcome of the year’s operations the amount of the surplus is not by any means unduly large in view of the fact which must be borne in mind that for the current financial year provision must necessarily be made for a full year’s charge on account of increases in salaries, wages and pensions, together with the additional cost of the shorter working week, all of which were introduced during the , latter portion of last financial year,” said Mr Fraser. The results of the financial year show that conditions are much better in the Dominion than they were 12

or 18 months ago. Further proof of this fact can be found in the savings bank returns, which are laways taken as a. barometer indicating the standard of general prosperity in the Dominion. The position with regard to the savings banks is; 1934-35. 1935-36. 1936-37 £ £ £ Deposits 24,179,537 25,619,775 3,067,967 With- ~ flrawais 20,946,562 23,533,595 27,42,001 Excess of deposits 3,232,975 . 2,086,180 3,634,966 For the month of March, 1937, the excess of deposits over withdrawals was £366,667, compared with £147,553 for the previous year.

Excess over Estimate. Received. ESt. £ £ £ Customs 9,100,000 9,499,000 399,000 Beer Duty 770,000 842,000 72,000 Sales tax 2,900,000 3,045,000 145,000 Highways 2,512,000 2,503,000 *9,000 Stamp & death duties . 3,210,000 3,163,000 *47,000 Land tax 1,300,000 1,048,000 *252,000 Income tax .... 6,000,000 6,619,000 619,000 Other taxation 225,000 222,000 *3,000 Totals 26,017,000 26,941,000 924,000 Interest. 2,520,000 2,387,000 *133,000 Other receipts 2,530,000 1,819,000 *771,000 Totals 31,067,000 31,147,000 80,000