The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 29
Comparison
Comparison.
These taxes, on the whole, are unobjectionable. It is worth notice, however, that the imported and locally made stimulants, and imported ingredients, are valued at £631,114, or less than one-sixth of the value of necessaries imported. And that although the duty on stimulants exceeds that on necessaries by £61,183, the extra cost to consumers caused by duty on stimulants is less by £110,272 than the extra cost caused by duty on necessaries: the total extra cost of stimulants being in round numbers £711,000, or £1 11s. 7d. per head; while that of necessaries is about £831,000, or £1 17s. 6d. per head of the whole population. This apparent discrepancy is explained by the greater protective action of the duties on the chief articles of imported food and other necessaries, in raising the price thereof, whether foreign or local, than is the case with regard to the stimulant superfluities in Table S. The taxes on imported farinaceous food, very heavy in the case of rice, are still heavy enough on other grain, flour, &c., to keep bread at a higher price than it would otherwise be, although by far the largest proportion of the people's farinaceous food is grown in New Zealand. So with hams, bacon, potted and preserved meats, &c., the protective duty of 1d. a lb. on the two former, and 10 per cent, on the others, keeps up the price of the New Zealand made article. And so with other necessaries. The high duty on imported spirits no doubt keeps up the price of that article, even though a small portion is distilled in the Colony; but the very small amount of duty paid on the imported ingredients of colonial beer enables that article to be produced at a low price, and thus to keep down the aggregate amount of extra cost imposed upon the consumers of all stimulants, by causing less spirits to be consumed, and by providing a supply which only undergoes one intermediate profit on prime cost alone between producer and consumer.