THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

Temuka Leader, Volume I, Issue 68, 10 August 1878, Page 3

THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

The Financial Statement delivered by the Colonial Treasurer (the I lon Mr B-d lance) on -Wednesday eyening was, even as te'egraphed,. much ‘too long for our columns. We were, therefore, obliged to greytly condense it in order to present it to our readers in any form at all. We think, however, that the outline we give shows all the main features of tlje Statement, as telegraphed, pretty clearly. There are a few discrepancies in the numbers given. Some of these are due to neglecting shillings and pence in the items. One, however, and a large one, in the estimated yevenue for the present year, cannot be thus accounted for. Possibly it is due to an error in transcription in some intermediate office.

We simplify the form in which the accounts were telegraphed as follows : Dr. Acckunt for the Year 1877-8. Realised surplus from last year 123,110 Customs duties ... ... 1,271,961 Railways ’ ... ... ... 546,458 Land sales, rents, &c. ... 1,586,502 Postal, Telegraph, Land Trans fer, and Miscelladeous ... 917,469 Assets realisable ... ... 44,453 Total Dr. Account... ...£4,490,013 Cr. Account. £ Total expenditure for the year 3,969,240 Liabilities — Money payable to Counties or for special services... ... 279,134 Departmental... ... ... 121,169 Surplus for the year 120,470 Total Or. Account ... ...£4,490,013 Government propose to place LIOO,OOO of to the epeflit of the Public Works Account .to aid the construction of railways undertaken by the colony, and the balance (L 20,470) to the credit of the ordinary account for the present year. Tlie new three and a-half million loan was issued by the Bank of England for a commission of £ per cent, The price was par, with interest at 5 per cent. Eight millions and three-quarters were subscribed for. This lean includes one million under the Act of 1876 to pay off debentures falling due' at the end of this and the beginning' of next year, and two and a half millions under the Act of; last session. L 300.000 out of the'loan must go to meet provincial liabilities, leaving L 2.200,000 available for public works. Last year L 2,293.740 was appropriated for public works ; of this L 1,167,583 bad been expended, and L 1,126,157 remained unexpended. The total amount expended on immigration and public works since the Public Works Account was created in 1870 to the end of the financial year was L 12.038,472. The total amount raised for those puvpo-e-i was LI4 040.620, L 13,700,000 thereof hy buns. The di/furenc L 2,002,148, added to a sum of L 54.791 repayable to the amount, total L 2.056,940,.056,940, is available for appropriation. The net indebtedness of the Colony on Ihe 30tli June was L2D.9.16,118, and the annua! charge for interest and sinking fund oil this a eoiiut was L 1.195.318. The es incited expenditure (ordinary a cumr) for too j -resent year is : —• £ Permanent appropriations ... 1,809,707 Annual charges ... ... 2,183,741 Sums payable to local bodies 200,000 Totajl ... ... ... £4,193,508 The above total includes L 44,000 for heavy guns for the defence of the principal ports. The estimated -revenue for thg present year is : £ Surplus from last year ... 20,468 Customs Duties ... ... 1,320,000 Stamps ... ... ... 170,000 Railways ... ... ... 710,000 Postal, telegraphs, etc. ... 402,145 Sj ecial services ... ... 230,215 Fees payable to local bodies... 200,000 Laud sales, rents, etc. ... 1,220,677 Total estimated receipts ... £4,282,505 Deducting the estimated expenditure, L 4,193,509, theie remains a surplus of L 88,096 available to meet supplementary votes or contingent expenditure. The progress of the" colony is shown by the increase of exports. Their value for 1877 was L 6,327,472, being L 654,007 more than the previous year. The value of imports for 1877 was 16,973,’!.] 8. The export of wool showed an increase over the preceding .year of four and a half million pounds in weight, and of L 263,122 in value. The value of grain exported in 1877 was L 290,415, as against L 344,142 in 1876. The value of gold exported during last financial year .was L 1,475,669. In view of the unprogressive character of the revenue collected under the ad valorem system the Government propose to change, by degrees, this system into specific duties, beginning this year with about twenty of the one hundred and fifty-nine classes of goods now taxed under the ad valorem system, and believing that the revenue derives less benefit from a great dumber.of .trifling duties than trade sustains in jury,by their imposition, Government propose to abolish altogether certain duties, which either fall on the necessaries of life or clog the wheels of industry, or do not repay the cost of collection. These remissions afffet about thirty classes of goods, including grain, flour, corn flour, sago, bacon and hams, butter and" cheese, fencing wire, paints, and artizans tools. The total duties collected on these thirty classes of goods amounted to L19,72G. • In order to lighten the burden of taxation on the laboring classes Government propose to reduce 'he duty pn,tea from 6d to 4d per lb, relieving .tea'.djinkers to the extent of L 2.5,009 a r year, kind to reduce the'duty oh sugar 'from Id to Ml per lb, relieving consumers to the extent of L 68,500. Government do not anticipate any increase in the consumption of tea, as h? is alrefhy universally'used, but it is expected .the consumption of sugar will increase. .The duty on Australian wines, 4s a gallon, being almost prohibitive, it is proposed to reduce this fluty by one half, and Government" anticipate that a consequent increase of consumption will prevent the revenue losing anything through this reduction. Government hope that this reduction will tend to promote a freer trade with Australia in other good®. The total amount of taxation thus remitted is, in round numbers, L 117,000, more than four-fifths,of which amount is due to the reduction on tea and sugar.

The whole of the remissions are intended to fake p'aee from I lie Ist January, 1878. Bc-mg. ■ou the one hand the great enhancement of the v lues of all kinds of property, and more especially of landed property, through tin- policy of Public Works and Immigration pursued during (he last few years, and seeing, on the other hand, the great annual charge on the colony incurred through that policy, Government believes it just that those properties should bear a fair share of the charge incurred through the policy referred to, and therefore proposes to extend the basis of taxation with the double object of establishing more firmly the finance and credjTof the colony, and of fairly adjusting the fiscal burdens, according to the capacity of the different classes to bear them. As no other commodity increases so rapidly in value from the increase of population, and the natural progress of a country as land, no form of wealth is more legitimately called upon to contribute a portion of the public'revenue. This refers only to land minus improvements. By exempting improvements’, we award a premium to industry, and discourage a system of speculation which thrives only upon the labour of others. The principle by which the Government propose to find the unimproved value of land is, “ to take the actual value to sell, minus improvements, embracing both town and country, with a re-valuation every third year.” It is proposed also t’o apply the principle of exempting values below a certain amount. ‘ Every bolder will be entitled to claim an exemption to the extent of LSOO on (he total value of alibis holdings, and no one will be called upon to pay the tax, the value of whose property is not more than that sum.’ “The minimum un improved. value will bp fixed at one pound per acre.” The annual valuation for this year, deduced from the valuations of locaj Jacards, Ac., is L 3,800,995, but as sonic of these are incomplete, the annual value may be safely taken at four millions. “ This, capitalised at s'per cent.,' gives ' eighty millions as the improved capital value of the real property of the Colony.” Deducting three-sixteenths for improvements, ajid'as much more’for the exemptions of LSOO, we have left fifty millions of taxable value. Government proposes to subject this value to a tax of a halfpenny in the pound. This would produce in round numbers LIOO,OOO, subject to a deduction for the cost of valuation and collection, estimated at LIO',OOO. Government propose also to ecpialise the burden of taxation by Imposing an income tax on joint-stock' companies transacting business in the Colony. 'This tax is not open to the greatest objection urged against a' general income tax—that of false declarations' —since the profits of such companies must be published. The tax Government' propose is 3d in the pound on the not profits of the companies. This tax is estimated to produce about LI 0,000. ’ 1 : At present consumers of colonial beer arc taxed about 2.y per cent for and on the total value of lire beer consumed. The remission of the drily’ on "sugar will reduce the tax on the present basis to less than 2 per cent. In England th; cl iff.!- - rent taxes on beer amount to from IS to 23 per cent. Considering- the hotter position of consumers Imre. Government think that they may f’ iily ask them -to : cnutrihulef a beer tax’of lid per gallon. This would make the total beer tax 8); per cent.—considerably Lss than half UnEnglish tax on the ‘same article. Estimating the annual consumption’ of Uncolony at five million gallon’s (which is ’probably'a low estimat •), ■ this special tax would yield a revenue, in round numbers, of L30,0U0. Brewers would’ be al lowed a, drawback of’the” duly on all beer exported.

It is proposed to make the beer tax receivable at once, but the land tax and companies income tax not till the Ist of January next. The probable receipts from new taxes during the present financial year are‘estimated at L 83.273. From this is to be deducted the estimated loss through remissions for the half year, L 58,000, and the estimated departmental cost of collecting (he land tax (L10,00U), leaving a net surplus in favor of revenue of L 15,273. The Treasurer concluded by moving, (1) That on and after the 7th August, 1878, an excise duty of lid per gallon be levied on all malt liquors brewed and made in Flew -Zealand, the same to be paid by means'‘of revenue"'stamps to be affixed do every receptacle in which such liquors are contained when sold ; and (2) That ' the duties on certain articles (named) be changed.