Stiver Taxes For Cook Islanders
p. 12 · Read in the full issue
Cook Islanders
Stiffer income and sales taxes have been introduced by the Cook Islands Government in an effort to reduce the territory's dependence on the New Zealand Government’s subsidy of nearly £700,000 a year.
The new income tax plan will bring more people mainly young unmarrieds into the Government’s tax net. This caught only 389 last year, of whom only 140 were Maoris.
Income tax is estimated to yield £55,000 in 1966-67 com pared with £47,578 in 1965-66.
From October 1, sales tax has been increased from 5 per cent, to up to 30 per cent., and the range of goods affected has been widened to include several semi luxury items. The new rates are expected to yield additional revenue of £lO,OOO in a full year.
The Cook Islands Premier and Finance Minister, Mr. Albert Henry, gave details of the new taxes in presenting the Cooks’ first Budget under self-govern ment to the Legislative Assembly in late September.
He said that the territory’s annual bill for public service salaries and wages had now reached the point where it was probably higher than the NZ subsidiary. It had grown much faster than annual export income.
Mr. Henry added that while the community’s prosperity had increased markedly in recent years, this was due to a “disturb ingly large extenf’ to the “generosity of our fellow citizens, Maori and European, living in New Zealand”.