LABOUR FINANCE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 May 1939, Page 3

LABOUR FINANCE

MR HAMILTON ON PUBLIC ACCOUNTS EXPANSION OF EXPENDITURE. STILL HIGHER TAXATION PREDICTED. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, May 2. Comment on a preliminary review of public accounts by the Minister of Finance, Mr Nash, was made by the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Hamilton, when speaking to friends and supporters tonight. Mr Hamilton said it was gratifying that the year had ended with a substantial surplus, and also that £272,000 had been used to cancel indebtedness in the dairy industry account as a result of the working of the guaranteed price scheme in the 1936-37 season. “Even after this has been effected.” Mr Hamilton continued, “there is to be a surplus of £BOO,OOO.- That is fill to the good as far as it goes. It is impossible to make a final and complete analysis of the accounts till they are published in full, but there are certain features well worthy of the public’s immediate attention. “It is obvious that during the last year the taxpayer contributed £1,000,00 and some odd thousands more than was actually required to meet public expenditure. That in Itself Was a heavy toll from industry, business and the general community. REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE. “The actual development of both revenue and expenditure in recent years is also worthy of more than passing notice. In 1935-36 the total taxation amounted to £21,556,000 and in 1938-39 to £31,715,000, an increase oi £10,160,000, or 46 per cent. The corresponding figures for total revenue were: 1935*36, £26,172,000; 1938-39, £36,600,000—an increase of £10,428,001. or about 40 per cent. “Taking the expenditure side of the Budget, we find that in 1935-36 the total Budget expenditure was £25,800,000, while in 1938-39 it amounted tc £35,800,000—an increase of £10,000,000 or ‘3B per cent. “I draw attention particularly to this, as it indicates the steady advance oi the Government’s policy of taking as much as possible from the taxpayer, industry and business, and, in the lighl of all developments and complications it is for the people now to say whether they have received a corresponding increase in assistance from State activities,” Mr Hamilton said. INCREASING BURDENS. “The whole expenditure machine has been geared up to its maximum, and, with increasing commitments, decreasing revenue and the public faced with increasing burdens in taxation thje situation is fraught with the Utmost tension, “I find, as I have travelled all over New Zealand in recent months, that the taxpayer is very concerned at the Government’s apparent determination to continue its ill-founded policy, meanwhile leaving the taxation burden as pressing as ever, with an additional threat of an increase in the burden in the near future. “In its attempt to meet this position, it would appear that the Government is eagerly and anxiously prospecting money sources. Mr Nash is off to London, and it appears possible that while he is there' endeavouring tc make some favourable ar rangemen i concerning the renewal of the 000,000 falling due at the end of the year, he will tap the London market to see if there is any new money to be picked up—and that in spite of his boast at not having borrowed overseas “It is also announced that Mr Nash has left instructions that the pulse of the local money market must be felt almost immediately with a view to further borrowing to allow the Government to carry on,” Mr Hamilton stated. “It is also possible that further inflation through ,the Reserve Bank may be considered after these three avenues have been explored or exhausted, as the case may be. The next step must be to fall back on to the taxpayer. He hardly represents a ‘ball’ in the game with any particularly high ‘bounce’ left in it, but that he is to be ‘bounced’ again in the forthcoming session appears inevitable.”