HIGHER PETROL TAX

Taranaki Daily News, 7 May 1930, Page 12

HIGHER PETROL TAX

REMIT FROM WHAKATANE. DISCUSSION AT INGLEWOOD. The Inglewood County Council decided to support, up to a point, and on certain further conditions, a remit from the Whakatane County clerk on. behalf of the Whakatane, Rotorua, Tauranga and Opotiki County Councils, which was received at the council’s meeting yesterday. The co-operation of the Inglewood Council was asked in support of the resolution: “That the Government be urged to increase the petrol tax to a figure which win enable it to completely finance all future maintenance and construction costs on all primary main highways in a permanent manner.’’

The letter stated the delegates at the conference of local authorities at Tauranga on March 21 were unanimous' that the heavy and rapidly increasing burden which was being' placed on county ratepayers of financing the maintenance and construction of primary main highways had reached a point beyond- the resources of- the county‘council. Delegates agreed that such primary main highway maintenance- and construction costs should be . entirely financed 'by '■ the road users. The position in each of the Bay of Plenty counties represented was placed before the conference by the delegates. It seemed a general rule that county byroads had of necessity remained neglected because county finances were insufficient to maintain (except by rating the farmer off the land) both the county arterial and the by-roads to a reasonable standard.

In the opinion of the conference the petrol tax supplied a just and equitable method of collecting from the road users their cost of maintaining the arterial road system. Furthermore, it was thought that in requiring motor transport to provide by an increased petrol tax a more equitable proportion of primary main highway maintenance and construction costs the present road transport versus railways competition would be placed on a more even basis. The conference, stated the letter, wa? satisfied with the present method of administering and expending the main highway funds, and was of opinion that an increased petrol tax would go a long way towards solving the problem by .making for uniformity in the incidence of the taxes which provided finance for roading costs. The resolution had been submitted to every county council in the Dominion and would arise at the county conference in Wellington on July 2, Mr. A. Corkill said he was in favour of supporting the resolution up to a point. He pointed out that, as regarded the Inglewood County Council, which had laid down its roads after borrowing £27,800, the carrying of such a proposal would mean that petrol tax collected would be expended in the initial foundation of primary main highways in other counties which had not raised loans io carry the work through. And yet the Inglewood County Council would have to continue paying £1837 a year as interest on the loan floated to lay down its highways. Backblock counties would be getting their road-making paid for by the petrol tax from counties which had carried out extensive and costly road work. On the motion of Mr. H. Jones it was resolved that the council was not in favour of the resolution as it stood. If it was altered to rxpply only to counties where primary main highways weio already constructed, or if the interest on loans raised by counties in similar positions to that occupied by Ingle--wood were taken over by the body controlling the disposal of the petrol tax, the council was in favour of the resolution.