SOCIAL SECURITY COSTS

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21363, 6 March 1941, Page 6

SOCIAL SECURITY COSTS

While tne general medical practitioner benefits under the Social Security scheme are being launched upon life as a very feeble infant whom few people seem to want, judging by the paucity of applications, attention has been directed to the mounting cost of the Social Security scheme in general. Even without the general practitioner benefits, expenditure in the first nine months of the current financial year exceeded the income by £1,400,000. Although income in the period advanced by £1,080,000 by comparison with the corresponding period last year, expenditure was greater by £1,540,000.

Parliament authorised the transfer of £3,200,000 from general taxation funds to meet any deficiency, but had the full scheme been in operation it is doubtful if that sum would have been sufficient. If the general practitioner benefit survives the launching, the outgoings from the Social Security Account are expected to increase by not less than £1,200,000, though they may bo considerably more. That charge will have to be met next year, so the public must be prepared to face either additional taxation or economies in other directions to make possible a heavy subsidy from general funds to the Social Security Account. The Minister has promised that the money will be found, but how he has not yet explained. The taxpayers will, of course, have to foot the bill.

The next Budget will probably disclose whether a further levy is to be made on wages and other income or whether a lump sum is to be taken from general taxation. It is unfortunate that this additional demand should be made when every penny is required for war purposes, but the country cannot have the Social Security scheme without paying for it. While the national income is expanding it is not so difficult to raise extra taxation revenue, but the real difficulty in maintaining the full Social Security benefits will come when the national income begins to contract. Everyone hopes that there will never be another decline in the country’s income, but to expect such good fortune is to fly in the face of reason.