Plea For Reduction Of Tax On Motoring

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29221, 3 June 1960, Page 13

Plea For Reduction Of Tax On Motoring

(New Zealand Preu Association)

INVERCARGILL, June 2. , ,l axati ° n ~o n motoring—“crushing and formidable —made the motorist the most heavily°^.P ie ew Zealand community, Mr X? ’ P r .j Sl dent of the Automobile Association (Southland) said at a conference in Invercargill, tonight.

Mr Russell said the taxation on motor transport and the motorist was out of all proportion. The Government had placed the purchase of a new car beyond the reach of the wage-earning family man. It had also put the cost of used cars far above their true values.

It would now appear, he said, that the reasons for the imposition of extra tax on motor vehicles and petrol no longer existed.

Mr Russell urged the members of Parliament at the conference— Messrs J. R. Hanan (Invercargill), G. G. Grieve (Awarua\ and J. A. Boy (Clutha)—to do all they could to have the extra sales tax on motor vehicles and the remaining 4d a gallon extra tax on petrol abolished. “The public and Government are inclined to forget that the huge amount of tax payable on a truck and a car, and the large proportion of tax on the cost of petrol, affects the cost of living of everyone.

“Motor transport is no longer a luxury, it is a vital necessity,” said Mr Russell. “Practically every item that we eat and wear, the houses we live in, the furniture we surround ourselves with, our home appliances and all the other items that go to carry on life must at some stage be transported by motor vehicle. “When the Is a gallon extra tax on petrol was imposed, transport operators were permitted to increase their charges accordingly,” said Mr Russell. “Since the 8d had been taken off they have decreased their charges and will make a further concession if the remaining 4d is removed.” It was unfortunate, but perhaps there were obvious reasons for figures on the total tax paid by motor transport were not available. Figures showing the sales tax collected on motor vehicles were also not available. “However, from the information available it would appear that the total tax collected from motorists and the motor transport industry, made up of sales tax, Customs tax, tax on petrol, tyre tax, heavy traffic fees, mileage tax, tax on parts and so on, was last year in the vicinity of £4O million to £45 million. “When we take into considera-

tion that the total population of New Zealand is a very little more than 2.000.000 and the fact that the total vehicle imports for 1958 were only 5.39 per cent, of the total imports, this £4O million to £45 million in tax is out of all proportion.” said Mr Russell. "Before Mr Nordmeyer’s famous Budget in 1958, a popular 14 h.p. English car retailed for £899. Today the same car retails at £lo42—because of the additional sales tax imposed by the present Government—a rise of £143. ‘ ‘The Government collects £270 8s 5d in sales tax alone from this popular car. Add Customs duty and the figure is just on £3OO. “On a £l4BO car the Government collects £385 in sales tax and Customs duty, while on a heavy truck retailing at £2343 it collects more than £6OO in sales tax alone. The extra sales tax put the retail price of that truck up from £1955 to £2343.” In his 1958 Budget Mr Nordmeyer increased the sales tax on cars and trucks from 20 per cent, to 40 per cent.