CO129-615-3 Income tax 24-2-1948 - 12-8-1948 — Page 26

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unsatisfactory as in Unit 1 (Profits Tax) where Assessors

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are concerned, but the section suffered on the one hand from the

absence of an Assistant Commissioner in charge of Unit 2 to

whom the Assessor in charge could turn for advice and on the

other hand from a subordinate clerical staff inadequate to

deal with the routine of opening and handling over 8,000 files.

At the same time, the section was called upon to handle Personal Assessment (see below) in addition to its normal duties.

Some thousands of interviews were given to taxpayers and many

problems of a personal nature discussed, especially as regards

life assurance allowances. On the whole, considering the

inevitable delays consequent upon the preliminary work necessary

in the first year, I regard the assessment of Salaries and

Annuities Tax as reasonably up-to-date.

25. By 31st March it had not been possible to assess

Civil Servants generally, as owing to the delay in bringing

into force the recommendations of the Salaries Commission

and to their retrospective effect, the true income of many

Civil Servants for the year ended 31st March, 1947 was still

not known. The amount of revenue in arreabs on this account,

however, is not likely to be great owing to the wide difference

between emoluments of Civil Servants and those obtained in

commercial life. It is of interest to note that the average

amount of Salaries and Annuities Tax paid per individual by

such Civil Servants as have been assessed was one-fifth of

that paid by other assessed salary earners. The average

assessable income of such Civil Servants as became chargeable

to tax was $14,234 as against an average of $23,507 in other

cases.

Personal Assessment:

26. It is far too early in the history of the Department

to say with any certainty whether or not personal assessment

is likely to be popular. Up to 31st March, 1948 only in 626

cases of business assessments had any of the proprietors elected

to be personally assessed. An apparent apathy may be due to

one or more of several reasons: