New basis for car taxes call

Press, 7 December 1978, Page 22

New basis for car taxes call

PA Wellington A radical change in passenger car taxes might arise from a Standards Association fuel study.

Government sales taxes are based on a car’s engine capacity, with a graduated tax scale of between 30 per cent and 60 per cent. However, the association’s technical adviser, Mr P. Longrigg, has said that cars should be taxed on their fuel usage, and not on their engine capacity. “Proven fuel efficiency should be the base for taxes because of New Zealand’s high energy costs,” he said. The association’s study recommends that sales

taxes be based on a car’s fuel consumption and that motor dealers be required to tell customers the fuel consumption of new models.

Mr Longrigg said that the association had established a committee to study ways .of measuring the true fuel-consumption patterns of passenger cars.

The committee’s members included officials from the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Energy, the University of Canterbury, the Automobile Association, and the motor industry. Two committee meetings had already been held, and a third was planned for early next year.