PETROL TAX REFUNDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19859, 1 February 1928, Page 10

PETROL TAX REFUNDS.

From Master ton comes a complaint of difficulty in finding how refunds of the petrol tax may be claimed by users of the spirit for purposes other than the running of a motor vehicle. The firms selling it are not able to advise clients of the procedure, nor even of the authority to whom application .must be made. In other places the same difficulty has been discovered. On diligent inquiry it can be found that the Customs Department will not refund the duty, but the intention is that the motor registration offices should do it. No general official announcement to this effect has been made. Refunds have not yet been made, though the duty has been levied long enough for considerable quantities of spirit to have besn bought by launch-owners and others who are not supposed to be liable for the tax. It was realised from the beginning that the problem of refunds would not be easy to handle, and there may be excuse for delay in completing all details. There is little or none for the length of time those with a claim for return of duty paid have been left wondering whether any move will ever be made to give them back money they are legally entitled to have. While waiting, they are not sure what proof of purchase and use they will be asked to furnish in making claims. The Government defended and still defends the petrol tax against strenuous opposition. Unless it is prepared to see even sttfmger resentment grow up round a. levy it has instituted for the sake of better roads, it will put a speedy end to the uncertainty still existing about the way refunds may be claimed.