MOTOR TAXATION.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19942, 31 May 1930, Page 17

MOTOR TAXATION.

PROPOSED INCREASE CRITICISED. PROTEST BY MOTOR UMONS. A rigorous protest against any farther increase in motor taxation M made at the conference between. the North and South Island Motor Una* yesterday, when the chairman (Mr A» B. Ansell, M.P.), remarked QaA Umcm was-an agitation to put an aditbaßM harden on motorists. Mr Ansell said that the proposed increase to lid per gallon lwa ii* crease the petrol tax revenue' to £2,600,000, and of this .it was : : suggested that the Main ffidwp Board's share should be £lswJ(Xto, and the remainder mold, go terlha extinction of. the Hospital Boaitft levy. That oertainly was a W4w»» poeal, and it wae so obviously mmair. In 1927 the tax on motoriib prodw*d over £586,000, in 1928 £716.417, awi in 1929, the first year of Ob tax, £1,344,489, and this year March 31st £1,420,034.

Motorists and the lamars. He thought that motorists were p»J* ine their fair share of the revenue, and to say that a man who owned a farm or land of any description adjacent to a highway should not P*y ■** I absurd, because the value of tae laaft increased with the type of w It was unfair to snagest should be free of any charge at all #®' roads. If the fanners felt that tfasy had a just grievance ho sognsctan that the first place for reUcf wowa b» from the Hospital rate. _ It w» ffiw* possible that an afleratw* wW .* made there." In- 1924' the juMjwtai StTwa. £BB,OOO, and m lflßß ft «f» t0£331,000, an increase The'present difficult tames W excuse (pven hy the local Immihi throwing the burden of ■tasttfaoa • another class and wy had to_ ne prepared to fight resolutely sgw# any- imposition ■■ of_ unfair taxatjwas. They had to racognwß flut the cagatry was in for a diffienlt jwrwo. ®se largely to the decreased value ports, but at the - same tuae ttw* was no reason why motonsta saoaM have then suggestions. tjmnthem I>y the fsrincrs .in the amn area. The Prime Minister W taW referred to the highway wfliik «• necessity, for coordination wath_«» Railwa*. Department. Steps sfaouOTj* taken for the cwrfdimtoa «f----railway and ijoad transport, and Uyf as .motorists should andeav<tar to ■wTr the Government in tb» work .W* bring about an improved nfftßPtt m Mr W. Q. Walkley said thatthe bogey of Town t. Country , should «vgr been raised at aU. The taxatiafc ofithe motorist, he added, hadincreaaoato* staggering figure. They were-ge*«a|E value- for their money fw® the Maw Highways Board, up to a .point. - "The only way to reduce the Hospital rate," Mr P. W. > Johnston t». „ improve >the general' health'of'the munity. That would keep down-the expenditure and with scientific itsfiiAand investigation-bythe (jovtonMit'l great number of ehronic sufferers is Now Zealand eouldbo.'kept in saeh* state of health that they might become . self-supporting and even bread-winnerS.* "We all feci ayntpathelic to - thoSe men who are unemployed," Mr Aiiwtll remarked, "butwe know that the higkwayfunda have been used torelieve unemployment and' without doubt we have not had value for our money. I doubt if there has been a return of lOs in the £l. I can not blaming the aca, but men have been put on wo lis that would not be necessary for manyyeara to ciome. Moreover, they, have ' been put on pick and shovel . work whieh. could have been done far<mon cheaply by machinery. Motorists have""-borne a fair proportion,of the.unemployment burden aB well as their taxation aa motorists." Mr W. O'CalJaghan moved: "That this conference strenuously protests agafast any further increase in motor taxation." The motion was seconded 'By Mr N. C. C. Shepherd and carried.