Cabinet to review tax on home-built boats

Press, 21 May 1979, Page 6

Cabinet to review tax on home-built boats

PA Auckland i National Party members of ' Parliament got a battering from angry “backyard boat- , ies,” during the week-end, . and the tongue lashings may i have been sharp enough to persuade the Government to ' rethink its sales tax propos- , als for home-built boats. It seemed last evening that the tax might erid up being applied to the “component" value of the home-built boats, rather than the market value, neaning a significant saving for backyard boat-builders. The Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) said from Wellington last evening that he proposed to discuss the matter at today’s Cabinet meeting. “I do not think it made a lot of sense to put sales tax on the labour a man puts into building a boat for his own

use and in his own back-' yard,” he said. The issue has become one of the hottest in the Auckland province for some time and most National members had a busy day. yesterday answering angry calls. Busiest of all was the member of Parliament for North Shore (Mr G. F. Gair) who said he had received about 70 calls. Mr T. F. Gill, the member for neighbouring East Coast Bays electorate, also took many calls, and he was so impressed with the arguments put forward that he will break his special leave and return to Wellington for the Cabinet meeting. “We certainly seem to have some anomalies with this one," he said. The member of Parliament

for Albany (Mr D. C. McKinnon) said he had received more than 40 calls and he intended to take up the question with his colleagues. A group of amateur boatbuilders have banded together and called a protest meeting at the Royal Akarana Yacht Club, this week.

One .of the organisers, Mr G. F. Marti, said he expected the meeting would produce recommendations that would clearly express the disgust of backyard builders. The president of the New Zealand Yachting Federation (Mr H. L. Julian) intends to write to the Minister of Customs (Mr Templeton). He will tell him that any sales tax applied on the market, value of home-built boats is morally wrong and completely, unacceptable to all ' fair- [ minded New Zealanders. !