LATE NEWS RATEPAYERS FACE PAYMENT OF HUGE SALES TAX BILL

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 November 1949, Page 5

LATE NEWS RATEPAYERS FACE PAYMENT OF HUGE SALES TAX BILL

AUCKLAND, This Day (P.A.).— Auckland city and suburban ratepayers face paying sales tax a,nd duty on at least £750,000 for the metropolitan drainage scheme if the Government continues its present policy. The scheme may be extended to include more suburban areas and the expenditure will be correspondingly higher. The Mayor of Auckland, Mr Album, who is chairman of the Metropolitan Drainage Board, is optimistic that before the materials for the scheme start arriving the sales tax will have been abolished for local

body requirements. The City Council is renewing its application for the remission of sales tax and duty on'steel piping for the Hunua water supply development. Tax On Steel Piping : Engineer Explains WELLINGTON, This Day (P.A.).— The remarks made at yesterday’s meeting of the Wellington City and Suburban Water Board by the city engineer, Mr K. E. Luke, concerning steel piping being imported free of tax were amplified today by Mr Luke in the absence of the Mayor of Wellington, Mr Appleton, who is chairman of the Board. Mr Luke said the.controller of customs had advised that certain sizes and thicknesses of pipes were exempt from tax in accordance with an Order-in-Councib If they were used in connection wtih certain industrial undertakings. The British’ Petroleum Company was only one of the many firms that might be receiving that, benefit in comparison with local bodies, who had to pay tax on prefabricated pipes for water supply purposes, said Mr Lyke.