, 1889-12-28

that; and especially in. regard to Income
! tax, who is there having a. real clear N
:, come? Perhaps thereyare some p ,Or6per-
sons that lave such, AS regardsv Officials,
their salaries are not in general, too high,
but there are too many of them ; bnt p
we have the better. expedienty namely to
Teduce the salaries, rather than having AN
income tax, which isin itself an in~c0nYenient
and odiOus form of taxation ; moreover,
the bulk of capital is foreign, and the par
ties might prefer to withdraw rather than
pay; at all events it would be a double taxa
ton on those who have. to pay the income
tax direct and besides that be charged
with the increase which will be made in
the expense for foreign investments by that
tax. Then again a~s.regards the guarantee
for the Central Factory, it is well for us to
consider how and why we can be made re-
sponsible; was it not always, when the
matter was under consideration, looked
upon in this view, that just on account OF
the State Treasury having such great inter.
est in the enterprise, parties came forward
and contributed private capital, why then
should the State Treasury have a guarantee
from us? Tax payers contributing into the
Colonial Treasury, and who perhaps them
selves are shareholders are called upon to
be guarantees through the Colonial Trea-
sury. But then again when the Central
Factory was unable to pay, the State Trea'
sury stepped forward and took the Factory,
after making levy in it the Home Go.
vernment hoated the affair, raised capital
from private sources, then after the thing is
ruined, the Home Government takes it
away, but then exacts the guarantee to be in
tull force to them and to SHAREHOLDERS
The Chairman said, he was sorry that
the honorable Member In the course OF
his remarks had made use of some words
about the Minister and the Home Govern
ment, which should not have been used,
and which he was sure the honorable
Member had not meant as they were used.
The Governor: The honorable 3rd Mem.
Der for Frederiksted's Country District
(HeoC5tt) had several times quoted his fhe
Governor's) words in this Council; he had
not been able to catch the meaning or pur'
port of quoting those words; he had not
been able to see how they were wrongly
used, and he would wait to see the printed
proceedings before he could reply to the
honorable Members words. He would now
merely say that when the said honour
able Member had stated that the Voucher
MOI to the Bill shows that the State
treasury will be collecting upwards OF.
$500 of the best items of revenue from.
the colony, it had been entirely overlooked
by the honorable Member, that the State
treasury is to assume Expenses for, the
colony nearly of the colony's budget,
ard which will cause a deficit of about
$4,000 yearly; no wayis shown howl is
to be settled, except by, outlay from the
State-treasury. Furthermore it is a fact,
that already now. the Colonial Council has,
no vote on expenses on the items to be
assumed by. the State-treasury hence, he
failed to see the Importance of the objec-
ton on the score of the Council being
deprived of its vote on the items of the
State. treasury's Colonial Budget. He
would also state. that hitherto the Govern,
ment has not found that the taxes here
are SO heavy as to prevent the cultivation
of the Island; situated as we are, there
could not now be question of any consider.
able increase in the direct taxes, but, as
already stated, other objects can be found
to afford suitable additional taxation to a
limited extent when needed. The Commit.
tee in its Report speaks of the Council
being deprived of the right to give opinion
on bills of law dealing with State matters,
q right which the Council and Community
appreciate: he had not been able to see the
foundation Of that statement; but he could
see. that if the Committees proposal be
adopted. there would be some real danger
in1bat direction in so far as taxation was
concerned. YIa
33rraS Member for Frederiksted's Country