664: REPORT—1904. 
classes will not be affected adversely, but contrariwise, by the lines of change 
proposed. 
Percentage | Present Percentage 
Income | of Amount Amount } of 
| Income Taxed Income 
£ £ os. L 
250 payson 25 . : poe LO 90. : 4 36 
300 FA BOL. 4 fo. 0: 140. : : 46:6 
350 af sia : . 122 10 | 190 . : ; 54°28 
400 oe 40 160 0 240 60 
450 4 alee , . 202 10 | 300. 4 : 66°6 
500 sf BOM. E . 250° 0 350 . : : 70 
550 Spas ; . 302 10 430. : - 7818 | 
600 5 601% 2 . 060°) 0 480 . : : 80 
650 33 bole . 422 10 580 . . ; 89-2 
700 -- 70! g . 490 0O | 630. ‘ : 90 
750 > (Der 3 . 562 10 750. 4 . 100 
800 a 80. H . 640 0 | 800 . 4 + J) 100 
850 FF 85. ‘ . 722 10 850 . : «00 
900 * BO. ? . OL 210 | 900 . F . 100 
950 A Jor. , Bea? eK) 950__. - + .L00 
1,000 ¥ 100... 5 . 1,000 0 1,000 . : = LOO 
2. A proposed Substitute for the Sugar-tax. By Barnard ELuincEr. 
The enormous growth of national expenditure during recent years has neces- 
sitated the reimposition of the import duty on sugar. The sugar-tax, however, 
is open to two important objections :— 
1. It is a tax on an important article of food used by the very poor, and it is 
a tax which falls on the consumers in inverse ratio to their ability to bear it. 
2. It is a tax on raw material, sugar being largely used in the manufacture of 
jams, confectionery, biscuits, mineral waters, &c. 
The growth of expenditure has been sanctioned by the working class, who 
hold the power through their votes; and as a large part of this class are in 
enjoyment of comfortable incomes—the family as a unit often receiving a con- 
siderable income—it is both just and politic that they should share the burden 
imposed by the policy for which they have voted. The income-tax does not touch 
them; the tax on sugar does, but is open to the objections stated before. 
Is it possible to find a tax which, while not open to these objections, would 
touch the pocket of the well-to-do lower middle class and artisan class ? 
An import and excise duty on meat would possibly meet the case. 
Both import and excise duty would be charged on weight of dead meat, 
allowance being made in the case of home-slaughtered meat for offal, horns, 
hide, &c. 
The excise duty would be collected through the medium of municipal or State 
slaughter-houses, private slaughter-houses being abolished, An excise duty has 
existed for many years in Holland, and works well. 
The tax, being charged on the weight of dead meat, would be regulated by the 
butcher te a nicety according to the abilities of his various customers to bear the 
same, 
Meat pieces sometimes bought by the very poor would probably escape the 
tax altogether, being in the nature of a by-product. 
A tax of 3s. 6d. per cwt. would probably, while raising the price of meat by 
3d. per 1b., bring in a revenue from imported meat and cattle slaughtered at port 
of +3,700,0002, ; and basing the figures of home-raised meat on the estimate of the 
