Confused reaction to car-tax change

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33609, 10 August 1974, Page 2

Confused reaction to car-tax change

Public reaction in Christchurch to the Government’s change in vehicle sales taxes was quick and confused.

All dealers had a heavy “telephone day” answering inquiries from customers, all of whom wanted to know just where they stood under the amendment to sales taxes which took effect at midnight on Thursday.

But few experienced cancellations of orders. A crosssection of large firms acknowledged no more than four cancellations among them. For some, the Government announcement meant increased trading in the sixcylinder and V 8 ranges. Customers who had been “dithering” over a decision for the last week or so suddenly made up their minds and bought. FEW WAITED Some customers, whose new small cars are already on the showroom floor, were disappointed to find that the price did not drop overnight, but it was explained to them that the revised tax scales apply to vehicles leaving the factory after midnight on Thursday, and not to those already between the factory and the customer. But few of these customers decided to delay taking a car

in favour of waiting for one at the “new” price. The demand for small cars already outstrips availability in most makes, and the wait would be at least a month or even longer for some. This, coupled with the knowledge that other price increases and inflation might gobble up what little saving they would otherwise make — perhaps $lOO in $4OOO — made waiting for a “cheaper” car seem pointless. FARMERS CRITICAL Mr J. Wills, Hawke’s Bay president of Federated Farmers, sees the Government move on car duty as “yet another addition to farm costs,” the Press Association reports. “Farmers don’t buy sixcylinder cars because they like the look of them, or because they’re a status symbol, but because they want to get six cylinders worth of work out of them,” he said. “For a farmer a car is often a mini-truck. We come back to the farm from town with the boot full of stock food or fowl food. The car is just another workhorse.” Messrs A. R. Reeves and Mr J. W. S. Williams, of the federation’s Ruatoria branch executive, said: “We would suggest that the Prime Minister (Mr Kirk) try travelling through to the back of Rua-

toria from Gisborne in a small car loaded with wife, three children and a fortnight’s groceries plus other sundry items because the price of a larger vehicle has become beyond his reach.”

The president of the New Zealand Automobile Association (Mr A. W. Gibb) said in Oamaru yesterday it was acknowledged that the Government must take measures to conserve overseas reserves, “and it is practical to make the most economical use of our petroleum imports.

“The reduced sales tax, although only for cars up to 2000 c.c., will be an added incentive for the purchase of more economical vehicles where these are suitable to needs. “For some families, farmers, businesses and caravanners, a larger car could be necessary, and unfortunately they will be faced with a higher purchase cost.”