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the latter had been reduced to the lowest possible level consistent with our commitrients.
12.
The bridging of this gap between revenue and expenditure was considered by the Estimates Committee and various proposals for increases in taxation were submitted to them. The unofficial members unanimously rejected a proposal for an increase in the rates as they felt that property owners as a class, because of rent restriction legislation, had not been able to recoup themselves in respect of war losses in the same way as members of the business community. Moreover the rise in their maintenance costs was much greater than the modest increase over the pre-war rent which they were permitted to charge. For this reason and because it was felt that the imposition of the full rate would result in hardship, section 6(1) of the Inland Revenue Ordiname, 1947, provided that during the continuance of rent restriction, property tax should be charged at half the standard rate. was suggested to unofficial members that the time had now come when this concession might be withdrawn, but, while they were prepared to agree to such action in the case of new or rehabilitated properties, they were not prepared to do so in the case of those which were controlled.
It
13.
The possibility of charging property tax at the full rate on newly built or completely rehabilitated property has been carefully examined, but the conclusion has been reached that it is unfortunately quite impracticable to differentiate. There is no separate register of new or rehabilitated buildings, and it frequently happens that one portion of a building is subject to control whereas the remainder is not. Less than ten per cent of the total buildings in the Colony are new or have been completely rehabilitated, and the additional staff which would be required to carry out a thorough classification of all properties would be quite out of proportion to the additional revenue produced.
14.
The Unofficial Members have however agreed to proposals for increasing taxation originally estimated to yield additional revenue amounting to $1,600,000. This figure should however be exceeded as a result of a more recent decision to charge the proposed stamp duty of $1 on import and export declarations, rather than on the actual licences. The number of declarations made in the year considerably exceeds the number of licences issued. The proposals which unofficial members agreed to were as follows :
(a) The doubling of the present duty of 24 cents a gallon on table waters which is equivalent to a tax of 4 cents a bottle as compared with the present rate of 2 cents. This measure, which has been brought into force with effect from the 1st April, 1949, is expected to yield $500,000; and with the keen competition now existing between manufacturers of aerated waters, the extra 2 cents a bottle has not been passed on to the consumer.
(b) An increase in the basic local letter rate from 5 cents to 10 cents, and in that for postcards from 2 cents to 5 cents. Local postal rates had remained at their pre-war level and were very low indeed. The new rates have been introduced with effect from the 1st April,1949, and they are expected to yield additional revenue to the extent of $350,000.