CAR OWNERSHIP AND TAXATION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 4401, 6 October 1934, Page 1

CAR OWNERSHIP AND TAXATION.

OWNERS POSSESS AVERAGE MEANS. “There seems to exist in the minds of many people the extraordinary misconception that if a person possesses a motor vehicle, he is necessarily possessed of means above the average,” said Mr W. G. Walkley, representative of the North and South Island Motor Unions, in giving evidence at Wellington on Thursday before the Transport Co-ordination Board, which is inquiring into motor taxation at the instance of the Government.

Mr Walkley said he preferred the term “possession” rather than “ownership” because a great many people who drove motor ears had bought them on the hire-purchase plan.'“lt must not be thought that we condemn the hire purchase system, but the fact must be mentioned,” he added. “Twenty-five years ago such an assumption as is mentioned above, would have been right, but to-day the motor car is so commonly used that owuership, if it indicates anything, does not necessarily indicate affluence.

“The only available data on average incomes of individuals will be found at page 556 of the New Zealand Official Year Book. There it is stated that in 1926 the number of persons in the Dominion in receipt of incomes in excess of £364 per annum was 47,589. According to the latest available information there-are approximately 180,000 motor vehicles on the road. “Assume then that every person in the country in receipt of an income of £364 and over possesses a motor ear and 30,000 of the other vehicles on the register belong to persons and companies operating more than one vehicle, then it seems safe to state that over 100,000 motor vehicles, at present on the road are operated by persons in receipt of an income of less than £7 per week. It is pointed out that ownership of a motor vehicle does not indicate ability to pay the punishing taxation now indicted on the motorist.”