BURDEN OF HIGHWAYS

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 37, 12 August 1930, Page 8

BURDEN OF HIGHWAYS

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—The letter published by your correspondent on Monday under the norn da plume of "Buses," though not very clear, conveys something of what must be ia the minds of many since the petrol tax was raised. It is quite natural for people to think that tha petrol tax is something that hits the pi-ivate motorist, and not realise that the person actually hit is every member of the community. Th» chief users of petrol—l notice that no mention has been made ilately of tire tax, but petrol and tire tax go together as a contribution to the Highways Fund—are not the private motorists, but commercial vehicles, and the commercial vehicle operates chiefly in and about town. It is not merely a question of delivery to the door of a few groceries or an occasional halfton of coal, but the fact that each of the cities is. a hive of industry, and thers is a constant mass of heavy transport for every kind of purpose. Petrol is being burnt up all day long, tires are suffering severely, and there is the terrific wear and tear on city and suburban roads. The cost of all this is met by the city people; they pay it out of rates,1 despite the fact that the vehicles themselves bear heavy special taxation, ostensibly as part of their contribution to the roads they use. They pay, also, of course, a proportion in heavy traffic fees.

The city people have ruised money time and time again to lay down roads capable of standing this traffic, and that money is a load against their properties. They are thus doubly taxed. They pay directly in rates, and indirectly—-hidden and unseen —in an enhanced cost" of living owing to a highways tas, which goes, almost every penny of it, into districts which interest them not the least whit. Some people seem to tiiiuk it is the motorist who ;s paying for the roads, whereas everybody pays, and, as usual, on the poor, wian falls an equal 6urden with hw woalthie brother. Our civic authorities have been sadly lacking in their duty to ratepayers in bowing as humbly as they have done to a position full of rank injustice. The fact of the matter is that this country has embarked upon a programme of highways actually beyond her resources, and, unless a strong hand is laid upon the reins, a programme that must lead to financial disaster.—l am, etc., RATEPAYER.