Budget Debate

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 58, Issue 166, 15 August 1929, Page 8

Budget Debate

Per Press Association.

MOST ABOUT SUPER-TAX A Challenge To The Premier THE PRIMAGE DUTY

WELLINGTON. Last night. 'Afier the House of Representatives iiad discussed Ministerial replios to questions, the iinanc-ial debate Avas re6umed late this afternoon hy M v A. W. Hall (Hauraki), wlio said the Mini.ster of Lands apparentlv considered it would he a simple matter for large landholders who .might find the pro posed additional taxation too heavy to dispose of povtions of their land. Mr Hall submitted that people whose property was encumbered hy heavy mortgages might find grave diffieulties in the way ofoffering portions of tlieir estate for sale. If the State Advances Department was m a positiou to provide money for these people to pay ofF Dutside mortgages ancl place their properties in sueli a state that saies of portions could lie freely arranged, the diffieulty would not then he so serious. THE PRIMAGE I NCREASE. Mr Hall, continuing after the dinner adjournment, deserihed hoth the Government's taxation proposals as iliogioal , unscientifie and unfair, and in conelusion he said he hoped the other proraises of the Government would receive a greater degree of fulfilment than the promise of eheap money had received. Mr F. Lye (Waikato) sul>scrll)ed to | the view that the primage duty would not he passed on to the eonsumer. Hedid not think that it would be possihle in the faoe of keen business eompetition to pass on a matter of twopenee halfpenny, or even sixpenee in the pound. Mr Lye stated that he understood there w'ere 2200 farmers tliroughout New Zealand wlio would have to pay land or ineome tax, wliichever was the greater. He believed the proposnls m regarcl to super tax would have the effect of indueing people who had large holdings to suhmit land to the Government at a reasonahle priee, and therehy make lafld settlement possihle. He expressed the opinion that there was ro reason why the hanlc rate sliould he as high as it was at the present time, and he considered that the bank rate was responsible for the high rate of interest on mortgages. INSURANCE PROFITS. IMr F. Langstone (Waimarino) spent Fome time describlng proposals for the formation of certain commercial undertakings, and said that it appeared 4o him the liuge profits envisaged could only he ohtained hy exploiting the public. He suggested that no commercial concerns of the type he had outlined shouhl he permitted to operate until Ihe Government had satisfied itself that the mterests of the people were not heing prejudiced. He then referred to pofits made bv sorae insurance companies, and remarked that he thought the Government might have looked in this direi-tion in seeking revenue instead of increasing the primage duty. Mr T). Jones (Mid-Canterbury) stated that when the "Roform administration relinquished offiee the country wa s on the high road to prosperity, and had it continued in offiee there would, in his opinion, have heen no delioit. He suggested that it was possihle some revenue had hoen held up that might have heen ineluded in last year's actounts. PREMIER CH ALLENGED. Members of the United Party had referred to the neoessitv to obtain money to compensate for last year's defioit. but Mr Jones contended that that was not so, as the whole amount was eharged up, to the sum of u early £.1.000,000 cf surplus that had heen plared at tlie rredit of the Gonsolidated Fnnd. The year had actually been started with a clean sheet. Sir Joseph Ward: Xonsense. Mr Jones : I challenge the Prime Minister when he replies to this debate to prove that what I have said is not the case. Mr Jones added that it was evident from the financial returns for the first quarter of the year that the Prime Minister had under-estimated his revenue and was budgeting, as he had formerly done, for a spectacular surplus. ' A SHREWD SUSPICION. Mr Jones, referriug to the taxation poposals, said too much of the burden would fall on the fanner and the farm worker. He had a shrewd suspicion that the idea- of giving education nn agricultural bias had originated with the Minister of Finance, who wished to have the farmers 1x1 the right mood when the Budget- had heen prepared. The Government had complained of a diffieulty in ohtaining land at a fair priee. He personallv knew oT instances where land could be obtained for fair prices. and, in fact, 10,000 acres had recently been offered to him at a priee below the Government valuation. The adoption of the Government's proposals would destroy land values, and he knew or no more dangerous act in Xew Zealand than to destroy land values. He claimed that ricli commercial interests had heen left free, while praetically the whole burden of inc-reased taxation had heen placed on the farmer. The debate was adjnurned on the niotion of Mr G. C. Munns (Roskill). and the House rose at 10.2-5 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. to-morrow.