FINANCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 March 1921, Page 5

FINANCE.

PROPOSALS OF THE BILL. ! REDUCTION IN TAXATION. THE PREMIER’S PROMISE. THE SHORTAGE OF MONEY, By Telegraoh.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. The Finance Bill was introduced in the House to-night by Governor-Gen-eral’s message. Mr. Massey explained that the first part of the Bill was designed to extend the amount of unauthorised expenditure on railways. A large quantity of rolling stock was ordered and money was required to pay for this. It was also necessary that the general appropriation should be extended to October 31 instead of June 30. The Bill also provided for increasing the general unauthorised authority by £lOO,OOO. A special account was also set up for the Westport harbor. Provision was made for the collection' of land and income tax. The land tax would be payable in November and the rate would be the same as fixed by the amending Bill last year, and an error in last year’s legislation was being corrected. Statutory declarations under the Land and Inconje-tax Act were being made free of stamp sjlty. A good deal had been said of late about permitting taxpayers to pay income tax in instalments. To this he had no great objection, but'if thjs was done it would be necessary to make the first instalment payable earlier in the year. He proposed to make provision in the Bill for this’. TAXATION PROPOSALS. He had on more than one occasion indicated that, he might be able to reduce taxation. He anticipated that subsidies totalling £1,500,000 would not require to be renewed and out of this he hoped to be able to reduce taxation. On this point he would make no definite promise, but his proposal was to reduce income tax by 10 per cent on the total amount, which would mean a concession of about £750,000. He selected income tax a£ the medium for the reduction because fanhers paid income tax as well as land tax. He was aware there would likely be a reduction in public revenue next year, but he thought it would not be anything like as great as many supposed, for the real cause of the present shortage of money was the large stocks held by merchants. If a reduction in taxation came about it would date from April 1. He, however, repeated that he could promise nothing definitely. It had been represented to him that local bodies might be able to raise their loans more readily if the term of a loan was shortened and the Bill proposed to give them this concession. A further provision empowered a member of Parliament to act as a member of the Board of Health without vacating his seat. THE COST OF LIVING. Mr. J. McCombs (Lyttelton) asked what relief was- proposed to be granted in the case of public servants who had rendered long service and received very small pay. Income tax as it stood was not unreasonably high and a small remission of ten per cent would not matter much to the payers of the tax, while the amount it represented would go a long way toward continuing the assistance granted last year by way of a bonus to superannuated public servants. Mr. McCombs quoted the Government Statistician’s figures showing that the cost of living had not decreased, but had actually increased, yet the Government had just reduced the subsidy on flour and agreed to an increased price to farmers for wheat and sanctioned an increased price of bread. Mr. T. M. Wilford (Leader of the Opposition) said he had already asked the Prime Minister if some provision could not be made for superannuated public servants who were now suffering hardship. The Pi’emier explained that he intended to take the second reading debate on the Bill to-morrow, and he pointed out that there was no proposal in the Bill to reduce income tax; his reference to the subject was only an indication of what he thought might be done next session. NEED FOR' ECONOMY. Mr. Massey said he was convinced that the country was staggering under the load of taxation it was bearing and that a remedy must be found to a great extent in rigid economy. He was particularly impressed with the view that companies were being hit very hard. So far as superannuated public servants were concerned he hoped to be able to continue the subsidy at least to widows. Speaking of housing generally he was satisfied the supply was overtaking the demand. He thought the best way was to provide the money and let the people build their own houses. The Bill was then read a first time and the second reading was set down for to-morrow.