The Press WEDNESDAY. NOVEMBER 20, 1968. The Cost And Benefits Of Roads

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31841, 20 November 1968, Page 16

The Press WEDNESDAY. NOVEMBER 20, 1968. The Cost And Benefits Of Roads

Arguments about whether everyone is paying his fair share of the cost of roads are usually unprofitable. There is little reliable information on the costs and benefits of roads: and if it were produced—at great trouble and expense—it would still be subject to political judgments on how the burden should be distributed. The New Zealand Automobile Association has raised the topic by protesting to the National Roads Board that private motorists are subsidising the log export trade through the tax on petrol, part of which is used to repair roads damaged by heavy logging trucks.

While the work of the board is financed from the tax on petrol the motorist can be reasonably satisfied that the tax he pays benefits all road users. The non-motorist—who also benefits from the roads —cannot complain that he is being taxed to provide expensive highways for the owners of cars. Local body rates, levied on property-owners without regard to their direct interest in roading, meet a substantial part of the cost of local roads. It is all very rough and ready: and it may well be that those who reap the greatest benefits do not pay their due share of the costs. Nevertheless, the principle that the user should pay is strong in this department of public works, and the association's protest is not surprising. Private motorists may be subsidising the trade in log exports; certainly some ratepayers are subsidising the log trade—as well as subsidising all motorists. Perhaps motorists who share the association's view should reflect that road works rely heavily on overseas exchange: some of this exchange is earned, at a little extra cost to the private motorist, by the log trade. Perhaps the fees for heavy traffic should be raised; but transport operators might argue that their heavy vehicles pioneer routes for the use of the general motoring public. Good roads have to be built where the heavy-vehicle traffic needs them; and the graduated licence fees help to met the bill.

The user-pays principle in roading tends to conceal the fact that roads are a national asset. Anyone who argues on this principle for changes in the burden of taxes for roading may find unexpected arguments ranged against him. The board quite properly agrees with the association that the overloading of vehicles should be stopped. The board sometimes grades roads for traffic heavier than that for which the roads were designed. The over-all economic benefit from hauling heavy loads on those roads may well outweigh the additional cost of maintaining them.