PETROL PURCHASE REFUND

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22212, 15 March 1934, Page 15

PETROL PURCHASE REFUND

TO TUE EDITOR.

Sir, —In a ease which was the subject of a recent decision by a local magistrate a well-known citizen, a member of an old-established legal firm, was charged with obtaining a refund, to which he was not entitled, of petrol tax paid by him. He pleaded guilty. One would have expected a conviction even if the circumstances were so exceptional that no penalty was called for. But not so. Although the police must have gone to quite a lot of trouble working up the case (I notice inquiries had to be made in Central Otago, etc.) they were as good as told that they had been wasting their time! As one of the public, what I want to know is whether, if a poor man in the same circumstances had pleaded guilty he would have been treated in the same sympathetic fashion. I notice counsel said there was "considerable difficulty in following the law on thi s subject." The people who use petrol for their fruit and dairying operations are all vitally con-" corned, and many others will be deeply interested. Will you, Sir, for their enlightenment, and in the interests ol justice, publish the section of the Motor Spirits Taxation Act relating to the " law on the subject "? Your readers will probably then be able to j]udge for themselves whether the law is difficult to follow or not.—l am, etc., Y.

• [The above letter baa been curtailed. Section 8 of the Act reads: —Subsection 1: In respect of motor spirits purchased by the consumer after February 1, 1928, and need for any purpose other than as fuel for a motor vehicle in respect of which an annual license fee is payable under the Motor Vehicles Act. 1924, the person using such spirits shall, on application in the prescribed form to the registrar of motor vehicles, be entitled to a refund of an amount equal to the amount of Customs duty (exclusive of primage duty or surtax) paid in respect of the motor spirits so used. Subsection 4: Every such application shall be supported by such declarations or other documentary evidence as the registrar of motor vehicles may require. Subsection 5: Every person commits an offence, and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of fifty pounds or to imprisonment for three months who makes any claim under the section that is false in any material particular. . . . The law requires that applications for refunds shall be made In respect of specified quarterly periods.—Ed. O.D.T.]