Mexborough & Swinton Times – Saturday 17 April 1943
The Budget
The Budget, over whose secrets we were wont to tremble, caused barely a ripple on the pool of the public consciousness. The House of Commons seems to have taken it exceptionally calmly, too; and even casually according to the reports of large vacant tracts in an assembly which more often than not in the past has been crowded with anxious listeners and ready critics.
After all, for a country which has met with stoic philosophy the disaster and deliverance of Dunkirk, the hectic days of the Battle of Britain, the fiery ordeal of the German night bombing offensive, not to mention a score or so of other crises, a two hour speech about the national balance sheet couched in astronomical figures was hardly likely to occasion more than a minor wave of interest. Not for a long time have the contents of the Budget been so readily predictable. Most people had a good idea what to expect, and Sir Kingsley Wood neither disappointed nor elated them. The whole tone of the Budget reflected the Chancellor’s determination to deal with the spenders. Those to whom the war-time accession of wealth has brought with it an irresistible urge to employ quickly this new-found purchasing power now find themselves with higher hurdles to test their exuberance.
In detail the new impositions cover quite a small field. Tobacco, drink and entertainments come in for most of the taxation. The Purchase Tax becomes still more uncompromising, and here the Chancellor’s signpost plainly points the way to a more expensive patronage of utility goods. Unobtrusively the Post Office, a consistent producer of golden eggs, is charged with the task of laying a few more through the medium of extra telephone and telegram charges.
By way of concessions, householders with dependents are to receive a little more consideration. But this is not the time to expect much in the way of amelioration and most of us are thankful that things are no worse, and that at the same time the financial stability of the country is so well maintained. The pitfalls of the last war have been satisfactorily evaded and the Government’s anti-inflation policy has on the whole worked well. A very much firmer grip has been kept on food prices, and it is no surprise to learn that the twenty per cent. increase this time compares with an increase of 108 per cent. in the Great War.
The new taxation again operates somewhat unfairly on old people and that by no means inconsiderable class which has experienced no appreciable financial benefit from the war, given concessions while on duty, Members of the Forces though, may find their leaves somewhat cramped with extra charges to meet for smokes, drinks and shows. It is a pity some method of differentiation proof against exploitation could not be found, but this is an insuperable difficulty. And so, while commiserating with the pensioner on the necessity of cutting down his pipes and his pints, we have to remember the plight of his contemporaries in, say, Poland. The Budget is practical rather than palatable, a truth which we shall have to stomach long after the war has been won.