MOTOR TAXATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19418, 28 August 1926, Page 10 (Supplement)

MOTOR TAXATION.

AVERAGE CONTRIBUTIONS. INADEQUATE ROAD FUNDS. Taking up tho cudgels against hints at increased taxation on motor vehicles, a Southern motorist adopts a remarkablo argument in an effort to indicate that, tho New Zealand motorist is a most unfortunate individual by comparison with carowners of other countries. To establish lus contention ho takes into consideration everything the buyer of a motor vehicle is required to pay. The debiting of customs duties against tho motorist for the purpose of assessing the yearly contribution per car to tho revenue is beside the point. If tho duty on new cars was directly placed at the disposal of the Main Highway's Board it would be a different matter. The concern of the motorist should be tho provision of an adequate road fund. It is not sufficient to be satislied that a specific aggregate is paid out and absorbed through various channels for expenditure on obscure works. Incidentally tho calculations of the Southern champion of New Zealand motorists are grossly pessimistic, and a fantastic figure is arrived at after taking the c»se of an American car costing £2OO at the factory. This sponsor of still cheaper motoring complains ihat the nominal £2 license fee is insignificant beside the actual payments which tho motorist makes under tho Bubtle guise of Customs duties. To arrive at the actual imposition on the New Zealand car-owner, the complainant assumes the case of a car upon which from £BO to £IOO duty is paid. Granting tho car a liberal life.of seven years, he points out that the duty means an average expense of about £l2 a year. Then he argues that the average car will wear out eight tyres a year and thus produce a revenue of £8 in tyre tax. He adds to this the £2 annual license, 5s driver's certificate, and £1 10s Hutt Road fees. This makes an impressive total of £23 15s a year. Comparing this with a car in Britain, the motorist says that the owner of a 20h.p. car in Great Britain escapes with a tax of £2O and a 5s fee for his driving license. Then ho refers to the American motorist's position and sets his payment down at about £6 15s a year on the assumption that a license costs 10 dollars and the petrol tax yields three cents a gallon. Even if the customs duties are to be considered, the annual figure per motor would not reach the total cited. The duties collected in New Zealand in connection with motor vehicles in 1925 were:—

Cars, trucks and buses . , 698,719 Body tax 196,352 Tyre duty \ .. . * ~ 198,406 Motor parts . . ; 64,286 Motor-cycles ... >, 36,849 £1,194,612 In addition, licensing and registration fees return about £300,000 per annum and the primage duty on petrol about £15,000. This ,?ives an aggregate income of approximately £1,510,000 for 1925. Take tho items of £698,719 and ""£196,352" representing the duty'and body tax. on lorries, buses, vans and motorcars. This aggregate sum of £895,071, represented the receipts from 22,326 vehicles of which over 18,000 were motorcars. On the basis of 22,326 vehicles, the average combined duty and body tax per ; vehicle last year was therefore about £4O. The average por motor-car is probably, below this figure, since the total includes expensive lorries and buses. Excluding motor-cycles, it may be assumed that about 90.000 vehicles wore in service, the tyro supply for which accounted for £198,406 in duty, or less thpn £2 5s por vehicle. The fact now remains that tho average vehicle returns £4O in duty,) £2 5s a year in tyro duty, and £2 in license fees. If the duty is to be extended over seven years the annual contribution is then, just under £5 15s. To this add £2 5s tyre-tax, £2 license fee and 5s driver's license —a total of £lO 5s per vehicle a year, as against the inflated instance of £23 15s. No doubt the motorist who covers 20,000 or 30.000 miles a year will contribute much more than £2 5s in tyre tax. If the import duty is ignored, the motorist merely contributes an average of £4 10s. In debiting the unfortunate owner of a £2OO car with an annual contribution of £23 15s tho Southern correspondent, does not consider the position of a British car costing £2OO. The 10 per cent duty would return £2O and the body tax £lO. Consider also tho case of Canadian cars which constitute one-third of New Zealand's imports. Kates in Other Countries. There are worse countries than New Zealand for motorists. Australia has a taxation scheme based on horsepower and weight, and the minimum is £3 a year. Light British cars of 12 h.p. pay. £3 53 a year. Powerful cars range from ■£7 to £9. Then South Australia has a petrol tax of 3d per gallon, Tho import duties are at least as high as those in New Zealand so thai it is difficult to see that Australia lets its motorists down as lightly as in New Zealand. Consider also the purchaser of an American 21 h.p. car in Britain. For a start the car is subject to the McKenna import duties. Then there is the annual tax of £2l. The American car in Britain contributes a great deal more in taxation than it would in New Zealand. The horsepower tax in Britain averages £ls 8s for ordinary cars. Tho European motorist is very badly treated in respect to imported cars. Germany has one of the highost protective tariffs in the world, and yet direct taxes are also heavy. Of course the American motorist is not heavily taxed. America has been laying national highways for many years and there are now 20,000,000 vehicles to con-

tribute to tho maintenance and the residue of construction. New Zealand has yet much roading to accomplish. Petrol taxes in 45 American States yielded £28,500,000 in 1925. They ranged from jJ to 3d per gallon. The average is Id per gallon, and tho cost of collection is only one-third of British tax administrative expenses. Tho American taxation from all sources averages about £5 per vehicle, although the petrol tax system distributes tho oxpenso in fair proportion to usage. It is, therefore, possible to double this sum if a car is used abnormally. During 1923' American petrol taxes produced 37.800,000 dollars; excise duty, 157,700,000 dollars; registration and license fees, 188,500,000 dollars; and municipal taxes, 13,000,000 dollars. This is an aggregate of 397,000,000 dollars, or £79,400,000 from 15,000.000 vehicles, or approximately £5 6s per car per year. It is absurd to declare that New Zealand is overtaxing its motorists. On the other hand much goes into the Consolidated Fund which is not distributed for the benefit of motorists. But this does not bring tho motorist any nearer a faster loading policy. Colonial motorists have to pay neavy customs duties'for the privilege of living in non-manufacturing countries. This puts all on the same footing and the only reaiiv useful contribution to road works in Zealand seems to be the £2 a year and the fluctuating tyre tax yield. If this is an adequate contribution for a country which has one motor vehicle for every 10 persons, then we must patiently continue to wear out cars on our bad roads. The tyre tax does not necessarily affect the extensive road user most. Tyres deteriorate if the car is laid up for a few months, and if a motorist has bad luck he may burst or ruin tyres which have done little mileage, and thus pay a tax for something be does not get. Again, the motorist who lives in a badly-roaded country will wear out tyres rapidly while the town motorist enjoys good roads and pays a smaller tax per mile of service. The only advantage of fiat rate taxation is that it provides accurate statistics of vehicle ownership. i