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(viii) The granting to taxpayers of the right to have their assessments for the year 1947/48 adjusted to the actual earnings or profits for that year (Clauses 12 & 19).
(ix) The charging of tax at lower rates than the standard upon the first $15,000 of chargeable salaries and personal incomes (Clauses 14 & 44) instead of on the first $5,000 of chargeable salaries only as in the 1941 Ordinance.
(x) The charging of tax in excess of the standard rate on personal incomes which, after the de- duction of allowances, are in excess of $20,000 a year, in accordance with the now generally accepted principle that higher personal incomes should bear higher effective rates of tax (Clauses 14 & 44).
(xi) The incorporation of provisions for depreciation similar to those recently adopted in the United Kingdom (Chapter VI). Capital expenditure on the modernisation or rehabilitation of in- dustrial buildings and structures and machinery and plant will rank for initial allowances of 10% and 20% equally with capital expenditure on new undertakings.
(xii) Provisions for the carrying forward of losses (Clause 20). No such provision appeared in the 1941 Ordinance owing to the temporary nature of the tax which it imposed.
(xiii) Incorporation of provisions regarding double taxation similar to those in force elsewhere in the British Empire (Chapter VIII). Provision regarding double liability to tax existed in the 1941 Ordinance but in a simplified form rendered feasible by the fact that revenue col- lected under the 1941 Ordinance all accrued to His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom.
(xiv) Increases in certain penalties (Clauses 81(1)
& (2) and 83).
4. In framing the Bill an endeavour has been made to incorporate as many as possible of the features of taxation generally accepted under modern conditions whilst avoiding undue complication and the compulsory disclosure of personal business interests. For this reason, the principle of taxation at source rather than that of obligatory individual assessment has been adopted.
J. B. GRIFFIN,
Attorney-General
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