HIGHWAY FUND TAXES
MINISTER PROMISES REVIEW NEXT YEAR OPPOSITION PRESSURE (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Sept. 19. _ The whole highways fund was in a very precarious position, and it was time it was reviewed and investigated so that a decision could* be reached as to the right and proper method of disposing of revenue derived from petrol and tyre taxation, said Mr. W. Sullivan (Oppn., Bay of Plenty) in the House of Representatives to-day. Nothing should be done to rob the Main Highways Board of the means of maintaining highways at a high standard, and local bodies should also receive some assistance in maintaining country roads. Mr. S. W. Smith (Oppn.,. Bay of Islands) said there was no justification in maintaining the war tax on petrol unless the revenue would be used for roadmaking and maintenance and improvement. Mr. G. H. Mackley (Oppn., Masterton) also pressed for an investigation into the incidence of this class of taxation, revenue from which was in excess of the reasonable expenditure of the Main Highways Board. Petrol Taxation. Mr. H. Johnstone (Oppn., Raglan) said the petrol tax was 14.7 d,, of which the greater part went into the Consolidated Fund, leaving only 6d available to the Highways Board for expenditure. This, coupled the curtailed imports of petrol and the fact that there was a great deal, of leeway to be made up in road maintenance and construction work, meant that taxation revenue available for reading purposes was quite inadequate. The cost of maintenance and construction work had skyrocketed. For instance, the cost of bitumenising roads had trebled. The loan indebtedness of the Mam Highways Board was £13,067,912, said the Minister of Finance (Mr. Nash). Referring to a clause in the Finance Bill writing off the liability of the Main Highways Account to the Consolidated Fund, he said the Bill wrote off £1,226,000, and that ; saved the highways fund £49,000 a year by way of interest. Interest Written Off. The Minister said that, in addition, the Government had decided to write off not only arrears of interest amounting to £1,416,297 to March 31 last, but also 1946-47 interest, which amounted approximately to £520,000, which the Highways Board was due to pay on Government loans. Mr. W. Sullivan (Oppn., Bay of Plenty): But you have taken half their funds. . . The Minister said that the writing off of this interest would be of tremendous advantage to the Main Highways Fund. There had not been one penny diverted from sources that the House had decided. It was misleading and incorrect to say that petrol taxation was exclusively for the roads. Mr. K. J. Holyoake (Oppn-, Pahiatua): It was originally. Mr. W. J. Polson (Oppn., Stratford): The original proposal was that the taxation was for the maintenance of roads. Mr. Nash said that that was not so. and motorists would not argue that they should be exempt from taxation. It was entirely wrong to say that one penny of the funds had been diverted. Mr. W. Sullivan: The fourpence for war purposes npw goes into the Consolidated Fund. Mr. Nash said that the taxation was never levied for road purposes. Would the Opposition say that revenue to run the roads should come from motorists? The Leader of the Opposition (Mr. S. G. Holland): You go on and make your own speech. . Mr. W. Sullivan: The Minister knows very well that _ the whole question ought to be reviewed. Mr. Nash: I will agree to review it next year. Tax on Motorists. The Minister said that motorists' should pay their fair share of taxation, as well as everyone else, and they would not argue otherwise The Government had a debt, of £28,000,000 outside the Main Highways Account for money spent on roads. Highways taxation would not meet half the cost of the roads and bridges Mr. W. S. Goosman (Oppn., Waikato): It would be better spent on the roads. x „ Mr. Nash said it would not be sufficient to make the roads if it were. Special taxation for a - particular purpose was a bad form of taxation. The Government had never given any indication that it would remit any of it. ~ Mr. W. Sullivan: You never remit anything. . , „ OQ The Minister said that on ±,zd,000,000 of Government, money the Government was spending £1,127,000 in interest. It was true that roads had deteriorated, but the Government had spent money on them that no highways account could meet. BILL FOR THEPROTECTION OF TRAVELLERS (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Sept. 19. A claim that the conditions now in vogue dis-entitle any passenger to claim damages, where he has no statutory protection, is ma‘de in .connection with the Passengers Rights Conservation Bill, leave to introduce which, next Wednesday, was sought by Mr. P. J. O’Regan in the Legislative Council this afternoon. This is the first time during this session in which leave . has been sought to introduce a Bill in the Upper House. Interest is added to the measure by the lact that Mr. O’Regan took this step only one week after he had been sworn m as a member of the Council. ” It is- explained that, according to a legal decision, a plaintiff widow of a passenger who was drowned at sea, in consequence of the alleged negligence of a defendant, could not maintain an action for damage in respect of the death of her husband. She could not do so for the reason that the ticket evidencing the contract of carriage had endorsed thereon a condition exempting the company from any liability for injury by reason of any negligence. Since that case, it was stated,- all of the shipping companies issue tickets to their passengers only subject to exculpatory conditions, on lines similar to those printed on the ticket concerned in ..that particular case. Amqng the provisions of _ Mr. O’Regan’s Bill is one rendering invalid these' exculpatory conditions
endorsed on passengers’ h c^ ets : otherwise expressed, and theie c 'further clause which lays it down that the provisions of the Bill < prevail in the event of then being conflict with the provisions of othei statutes. , The provisions of the -Bib u apply to all passengers by lan , y sea, and by air.
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Greymouth Evening Star, 20 September 1946, Page 2
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1,023HIGHWAY FUND TAXES Greymouth Evening Star, 20 September 1946, Page 2
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