MOTOR TAXATION.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 267, 10 November 1928, Page 20

MOTOR TAXATION.

(By'TOUCHSTONE.) '■''"' ''

"THE USERv MUST' RAY;?

HOW HAS WORKED ': OUT. ',-.:;• TAXES TO.'iEJT; THE-SQUATTER OFF.

The motor vehicle owners of New Zea .' land to-day pay in taxation an annua sum amounting-to between 2J and 2| million pounds, this amount v including ' Customs duties,' heavy traffic fees, regis- .. tration and annual licenseifees, drivers license fees, and finally the ~tas of fourpence a. gallon _pri=;inotor spirit The total amount levied oil motorists is greater hy half a million pounds thai the amount collected annually in countj rates. It is just about as big as'(the entire.sum collected in-.boroughirates, ■ The v only heads-: of,, national/, taxation under which more money is collected are . income tax, . about. :3$ . .millions, .and Customs duties, about 8 millions (excluding the Customs taxes cm motors and ■tyres). -.-J" * The Coates Government refuses to regard the Customs taxes paid by motorists as any sort of a contribution. towards the upkeep of the roads, that is, except the Customs duties on motor tyres, amounting to about a quarter of a million annually. The sum a. million pounds paid annually in Customs duties; : oh motor vehicles- is counted in as just ordinary general, revenue, and Eefbfm always insists that •it cannot be regarded : as a'tax on .motorists at all. Nobody'except the'Goverrijnent has been r able .to. that conclusion;'is reached;'"''•'. . .'.;" A Sop for the Wealthy. ; An interesting.' thing about "these Customs duties.bn motor,yehicles is that when the! Goyernirient; revised them in 1926 it. let the .rich/man '"down very lightly indeed with a. special rate to himself. If .you .import.-a ''foreignmade motor vehicle you pay a duty of . 35 per cent pnOitsjvalue, and-.if it ;has a body on it'youpay/anotheriduty, of - .'io per-tent oh the total"value of the car. But if the car is valued'fbrduty'at .more than £200 the -body duty-on the. excess " above £200 is'only 7* per cent. "If'the car duty is~lo*pei • cent, with another; 10(.per. cent on its total value if it hasj-a/body;.;andVhalf-ratecut- to ; 5 per 'cent-' <nr "this -second duty on all excess in value above'£2oo. As cars .valued for. duty, at,£200., sell for :at least c £3oo, it is. only the well-to-do ■who get any look-in at all on this duty cnt. The man? who imports a flash foreign; car);, valued ,f or. ~ duty- ; ; £IOOO, however,' gets •a , -iiice>little' , cut?bf (£6O. In most democratiS countries (they Mt: up the ' taxation on. luxury the' Coates Government idea •••■ ;is-that motor^cars^are/only.-luxuries.for •■the poor,;and-that-rich? ■people'-who want ' ":flash cars must be treated very kindly.: ■ '.'. Last year the Coates Government put ■on the petrol tax. anticipated (to yield £720,000 a year,:and-seems to (be -working out round; about that figure. -rAs this year's Public(sWorks Statement iracords, the petrol..'•;'tax(-rfs,; "primarily for giving relief.-,to "county-, councils.'; ... -The cameT-into opeia- ' tion in ■laot-yeaiy-ibutf-Itj'js interesting ..-tpyvtfote that-, vthls ' yeatfs , Main Highway^-jß.oard..report shows -that for the yeaf-':endmg';jj<tarch 31 last "•the county councfls'-inVseveh of the 18 •highways', districts;in;he.-Dominion were v,already .spending; less, money' on -the .highways than''they speirt the year'be-•'-'fore.,- Next .'year .'the iwhole lot ; of.them ■ (will probably-be :spending-less.,;'v; ...:;.: Who Gets the Benefit? ■;. It is calculate put . just who gets'the>benefit,Pf thi3 reduced expenditure.' ThV Coates;:. Government . aUeges that it is'agifi'to'ail'the farmers. ; Like most;of^the-r,Coates, „Gpyernment : gifts, it ~in the^pid , days, when farmersrgpt. about ; by horse , and cart'arid r bu"ggy, i iiob6dy-suggested - that, instead ofjj'kTeepitagrjipjthe^fpads .Put of rates on the value of. the. land .; "a farmer had, they/should-be kept'-up ; out of a; tax voiifthe- number; of-'biiggies ...;.': and carts he had._.A)big runholder would , ;:.:have haid fine thrbg bri(if "that ?*■- had been^'tKe^caser*'lnstead'of-'paying rates ojl, £30fiOO lyrortß tensor ,£50,000 worthjvhe would only : iiaye, paid . - a- ; tax on his;i>ne. or two''buggies'and -carts. The.small farmer, with £2000 -_ -.worth, of land,,.needs a,buggy,and cart. also, and he foi^d.';,hunseif -. paying, nearly as (muck? as the,'sq'uatter. This-idea never appealed to anybody"as a fair thing. . * ~-, ~.„.-.• ;j However, when ipptocJcars . cam'e-.-in. j great;numbers of. townspeople bought them,~as.you,'don't .nee'dta; paddock;t6 graze a-motor car in. It thus occurred to the 1 Government "that -•the- ;. farmers," having been skinned out'by' .. Iteform's _land boom and slumps it . '.-■' would'be (a 'grea^7ideX'foTthrow^tKem"'a sop by piling on.some more taxation .on to motorists and using the:-money to. keep the!OTuntry roads iup.( -'Now t ..taxr . ■ ing motorists ; to keep" the"' roads' up iis' quite a.' fair, tbingy provided it* is "done in a fair- way. year the Coates Government.gpt/.a-..terrible,showing up :• in'.a series'of articles in Befbrm.hewspapers, iri- which; it was.';(pointed "out that whereas city mptprists paid great ;. sums in'. motor . taxationj; they ; :~saw mighty' little of/it spent where they :.'•: used their cars. Christchurehrmotorists, ■ for had,' beenbled to. the"tune '"'■j- of £4o,ooo('ii year^,and-.of this (sum"only £8500 was/, spent ;' within ; , a :30-mjle .radius of their city. The. bther> centres ' were ndt_iri greatly better case. p. .The Petrol Tax Scheme Vr * The result of this-show-up,was that .. ; when the petrol/tax:' was ''brought in the .Coates <Governihent promised- that some of' it iwphld •be • spent where the • users would'get'-fhe'benefit of- it. They .were careful, however,' not to piit this ;; in(the Act of-Parliament", theyj.passed. All thaVgot;m"the Act'wasja,provision ■ that the'cities-and larger boroughs were to' get; 8 .petficent.: of I; the ;expected '-"':. £720,000..- ■Ho'w.eyeE,* ~ under . the ..plan sketched put~by, ; th'ei Gpy,ernmeriti-_;the dtiesv-.anfefowns .will*'get.'_37'per." cent -'-..'; spent":in(.an^ r aTOund-''theH- aiid?l2(f.p;er ;'. :'cent -will- go ;td"j.pay dnterest r andjsinicing "."-.;. fund; Highways,-Bpar j d.-iloans. WThis .:■; leaves the county' rates)* tEat" is 'tp;say|' somewhere'round abput : '£36o,ooo a year.' '-.- culate "outjwho-fis; g6ing-tb-,get,-thecbehe-fit of, that; - '£360,000 a - yearf There-(are ' -,; 85,628 farmers in..the Dominidtf/accbrdij ing to tie Year Book,, arid the.rateable '-.!;■ -unimproved' in j| is.: £221i00O,0QO.( ; Witli' these as ja Ml .."basis' we*!can sort"' of-'idea i of what is going to happen petrol ■ < [ _ tax moneyMt-'will only rbe a rbugh'idea'j . [;-' but quit* - a good .enough" one. to Usee Vf, J Jita t -present- -Mr> •Coates k^" : & "£?D*|ends'vr*bs

The next thing to do is to; get hold of the" .latest' statistical' report on "the land tax, -which is for 1926-27. Turning to'page 144 we find a table setting.;out .according to amount -the unimproved, value of the land"held by farmers;- -By a,' little addition 'we : ;fin'd?that 1329 farmers hold,; 16 per cent, of this £221,000,000 worth .of farming: land; in the Dominion. Next comel29S farmers with 7 p>r cent of it, and then 453ofafmers;with.l4'per. cent of the total. This'leaves the other 78,466-farmers wita.';'63 per cent ariiong the lot of them, and"this,7B,ooo farmers; includes all the .'Crown', tenants, who do not pay land tax, even though a few hundred pastoral "lessees among them are sitting on some millions of acres'; Small Man-Left In the' Cold, i ' £- ;We;npw'have ; 'the fmate'rial.fpr a little table showing ,in 'a... rough, and ready way how that a year of petrol taxin.relief of rates is likely to go. It works out like this:—l 329 farmers 'get £57,600,:, equal to £43; each; 129S farmers get £25,200, each; 4535 farmers get r ; £50,400, eaual to £11 each; ' 78,466 'farmers-get £226,800, equal to £2 17/ each. -....' \ ; ■ It' isT father interesting that; isn't 'itl • small farmers are not going ah' average of '.£2 17/ either, for the.big'pastorai lessees;-etc., will-mop up a handsome slice out of this part of the proceeds;* '■'"" ' """ '~%~" :■: • ;.-•■-r-": ■ . If the; ; small farmer owners a flivver and''Wes?.'OToo''miles' v iCyew^ln:liV : • runs 25 miles to. a gallon.oflpetrol, he ■ will use up 240.,ga110ns in the?.year,;and his-car will c6st>him in petrol "tax; £4 a year.-.HeiWbn't get;that rnuchxoff in the rates, hbwever.for'it is the big man ; and not the little ;iarmer that draws'the plums under Reform's-petrql'tax scheme. - And. the.-funny part, of .it is .that a; lot of! the' Reformers are r itching,, to hit that petrol, tax;up some moire.yet. : t