A BAD BEST COURSE

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 40, 15 August 1930, Page 8

A BAD BEST COURSE

In the circumstances the Prime Minister has taken the'best course in fining down the petrol tax as far as his Budget will allow. We are still of opinion that an increase in the tax, based as it is on the user-pay-ment principle, should have been preceded by thorough investigation of the transport question leading to a redistribution of motor-tax funds. Backblock roads should not enter into consideration except in so far as they are required for motor traffic or are damaged by that traffic. If assistance in roading is necessary in the backblocks to promote settlement, it should not be a charge on the user of other roads, but on the general revenue of the State. Backblock roads in this debate have merely clouded the issue, and members have given expression to the most confused ideas of principles. The adoption of even an extra twopence petrol tax means that there will be more confusion still in practice; but somehow or other the Budget must be balanced. At this stage it would not be possible to recast the Budget and find approximately £300,000 from some other source. Mistaken as the method is, it must be accepted; but this excuse will not be acceptable if the Government next session merely repeats the mistake with no attempt in the meantime to introduce a just system of user-taxation and distribution.