Storm signals are flying in Hongkew as the question of "who should pay the new taxes" is occupying the attention of officials and residents alike, the "Tairiku Shimpo" reported yesterday.
Racking their brains over the prob lem of making up an expected deficit of ¥200,000 in the budget of the Japanese Residents' Corporation during the coming fiscal year, executives of the civic body are at a loss to find a solution. Public opinion seems to be that "war-time profiteers" should bear the burden, as they are the individuals who have benefited most by the present hostilities, the paper declared.
Other factions think that 1,500 women entertainers in Hongkew, who also have shared in the "post-war" boom in Shanghai, should be levied Y3 a month to meet a portion of the increased: expenditures. This idea is patterned on the extraordinary taxation system in Japan, the Japanese daily said.
Pros id cons over the "soak the profiteers" issue occupy the floor at present, the paper continued. In the meantime officials of the Japanese Residents' Corporation remain noncommittal according to the "Tairiku Shimpo."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.