INCOME TAX.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 October 1920, Page 4

INCOME TAX.

CANNOT BE, PASSED ON. At the recent conference of a the Associated Chambers of Commerce in Wellington, the chairman (Mr. Bankart) stated that if £3,000,000 was taken by way of income tax from the commercial community the taxation was passed on to the public plus another million. This statement was taken ■ exception tii by Mr. C. H. Burgess at tjhe council of the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce yesterday. He said this might be the practice of some firms, but the general run of business firms did nothing of the kind. It was as absurd as the belief held in some quarters, and fostered by rash and sweeping statements like the one. in question, that if 10s was added to freight charges merchants immediately imposed los upon the public. Competition prevented this being done. As a matter ot fact many of the, in. creases, such as the extra telegraph charges, postages, etc., could not be passed on, and were borne by the commercial houses themselves] The prices of the necessaries of life were fixed by the Board of Trade, and could not be adjusted except by its sanction. It might be different with goods that came within the category of luxuries, blit so far as many businesses were concerned these constituted but a small part of their turnover, Such remarks as Mr. Bankart's only gave the extremists another handle in their attacks upon the commercial community, and were to be. deprecated. Mi S. ,W. Shaw endorsed these remarks.