PETROL TAX

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 151, 29 June 1938, Page 14

PETROL TAX

"UNJUST ALLOCATION" i 1 POSITION IN BOROUGHS ; (By Telegraph.) (Special to the "Evening Post.") MASTERTON, This Day. "I am sorry we are not able to say that we have obtained justice in the matter of the allocation of the petrol tax," said the Mayor, Mr. T. Jordan, president of the Municipal Association, this morning when referring to the borough finances. "We have reached this stage," Mr. Jordan continued, "that the Commissioner of Transport has admitted that boroughs have made out a good case for readjustment of the allocation, but this is as far as we have been able to get him to go. I have spoken to the Minister of Transport and to the Minister of Finance, and all that I have been able to obtain from them is that special legislation is being considered." _ „ , , The total road bill for New Zealand for the year ending March 31, 1936, said Mr. Jordan, was £8,077,975. Of this sum £1,891,672 was spent on urban roads and streets. Omitting heavy traffic fees the percentage of motor taxation allocated to boroughs with a population of 6000 and over was 5.8, yet if heavy traffic fees were included the percentages went up to 9 per cent. "My contention," said Mr. Jordan, "is that the allocation of motor taxation 1 should be in some definite relation to the actual expenditure on roads and streets, and on these figures the present ' allocation is obviously unjust and has ' been unjust since its inception. The 1 total burden .of taxation on the bor--1 ough ratepayer in 1935-36 was £12.31 per £1000 of rateable capital value and on the county ratepayer the burden in 1935-1936 was £4.67 per £1000 on rateable capital value."