EXTRA PETROL TAX

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29139, 26 February 1960, Page 24

EXTRA PETROL TAX

N.I.M.U. Calls For Removal (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, February 24. Before any consideration could be given to an additional tax on petrol for National Roads Board funds, the remaining 4d a gallon tax imposed in .1958 must go, the North Island Motor Union decided unanimously today. The president (Dr. S. J. Thompson) reported briefly on further efforts made to have the tax removed, and mentioned the proposal by the Minister of Works (Mr Watt) that the 4d a gallon levy be retained but that it be switched to the roads board, enabling more finance for road and bridge works. Mr W. J. Parlour (Auckland) said the union should continue to drive as hard as possible for removal of the tax. Mr W. H. Dowling (Hawke’s Bay) said the union had said unequivocally on behalf of motorists that the tax—originally a Is a gallon—was an unjustified means towards an unjustified end, at the motorists’ expense. “If we agreed with • the Minister’s proposal we would be false to the people we represent,” said Mr Dowling. “If we did, the Minister would be able to say that the tax for the roads board was put on with the approval of the motor unions. It should not be thought that we would even consider any such thing till the tax is wholly removed.” The proper course was for the tax to be removed, then the union could examine the merits of any case that might be argued for an additional’ petrol tax for roads board funds, he said.