State Asked for £250,000

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 662, 14 May 1929, Page 8

State Asked for £250,000

Heavy Traffic Fees Opposed

UNDISMAYED by the failure of former endeavours, the Master Carriers’ Federation is seeking the abolition of heavy-traffic fees, totalling £250;000, on commercial vehicles. The Ministry of Transport is now considering the whole question of heavy-traffic fees, petrol-tax and motor taxation generally.

Little more than sympathetic acquiescence was expressed by the Industries and Commerce Committee of the House of Representatives last year when the master carriers took a strongly-prepared petition before the Legislature. The petition was “re--1 ferred to the Government for consideration,” and the committee was “of opinion that the petitioners are entitled to some relief.” The citation of the carriers’ claims has been strengthened this year by elaborate tables giving the taxation collected in previous years, an estimate of the revenue to be gained next year, and by quotations from the Prime Minister’s speeches and the Public Works Department’s reports, as well as specific instances of hardship through over-taxation. When the Government imposed a petrol tax in 1927 it aimed to recover in revenue £720,000. It actually collected £824,188, or £104,000 more than the estimate. Here, then—in the reasoning of the federation —is a means of giving relief to the extent of £104.000. WHAT MOTORISTS PAY

During the 1929-30 financial year, the petrol tax is expected to yield £904,000, or £IBO,OOO more than the requirements of last year, and as the needs of the current year are not expected to exceed those of the year just closed, £IBO,OOO is judged by the federation as a fair and just remission from petrol tax alone. Moreover, the tyre tax, which for the 12 months ending December 31 last brought in £186,324, is expected Jo produce an extra £70,000 this year. On a conservative basis, the receipts from motor taxation for the past year are given as £1,638,000. This year they are anticipated to be ' just under £1,800.000. Added to this is the sum of £1,200,000 derived from Customs duties upon cars entering the country, swelling the motorists’ contribution to the State Treasury to nearly £3,000,000. After recalling that there are six methods of motor taxation—registration fees, petrol tax, tyre tax, heavytraffic fees, drivers’ licence fees and special road taxes imposed by local bodies —the federation quotes the

Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Sir Joseph Ward, as saying at Wellington, on November 21 of last year: “Surely it is not right that ve should have to pay a petrol tax, a tyre tax and sundry other subsidiary taxes. The petrol tax should have carried with it the repeal of the other taxes. . . . What we do take exception to is having to pay taxes three times over for the one thing.” A mathematically worked out computation is made showing the motor taxation in the Australian States and in other countries. The mileage is assumed to be the same in each instance, and the horse-power, weight and carrying capacity of the vehicle are reduced to equivalent figures. Here is the result: £ s. d New South Wales ...... 48 1 S South Australia 52 6 8 Victoria .. .. .. .. 67 4 2 West Australia .. .. .. -- 77 1 S Queensland .... .. .. .. 38 15 11 New Zealand .. 351 13 4 England S 9 13 4 EXPEDIENCY OR ECONOMICS? Upon these figures the federation decides that it would almost appear as if the taxation policy of the Dominion had been decided upon expediency rather than upon sound economics. The petrol tax is advocated as the most logical and equitable, inasmuch as it grades the tax in proportion to the use made of the roads, and takes account of power, speed and weight. Even by a petrol tax a five-ton truck would continue to pay five times as much for the use of the roads as would a motor-car. Briefly, these are what the federation calls “the facts of the case” for the complete abolition of heavy-traffic fees. The facts of the case for the State and the local bodies doubtless will be recited when Parliament meets next month. The Minister of Agriculture and Lands, the Hon. G. W. Forbes, said at Papatoetoe yesterday that the Ministry of Transport was investigating the whole question of heavy-traffic fees and petrol tax at the present time, and members of the transport board would probably travel through the country taking evidence before adjusting the tax.