ROAD FINANCE

Taranaki Daily News, 15 July 1933, Page 2

ROAD FINANCE

INVESTIGATION OF PROBLEM. MOTOR TAXATION. The Transport Department is at present engaged in collecting necessary data a preliminary to a full investigation into the whole problem of motor taxation and road finance. This information was given to the New Zealand Farmers’ Union on Thursday night by the Commissioner of Transport, Mr. J. S. Hunter. “One hears a lot to-day about the question of derating,” said Mr. Hunter. “I do not propose to enter into a theoretical discussion on this subject, but merely to mention one or two simple facts which may be of some interest. During the year ended March 31, 1931, the road bill amounted to £9,179,390. Of this figure £3,139,491, or 34.20 per cent., was derived from local rates; £1,327,053, or 14.46 per cent., was obtained from the general taxation revenue; £1,935,617, or 21.09 per cent., from special motor taxation; and £2,777,229, or 30.25 per cent, from loan moneys. Thirty-eight per cent, of the total was spent on maintenance, 34 per cent, on construction, and 28 per cent, on interest and sinking fund charges. “It seems to me that the first question arising out of these figures is: Are the proportions borne by the various interests equitable? The determination of this question involves the establishment of some criterion which would enable an effective comparision to be made and a decision arrived at.

“This . criterion involves some delicate logic, and a reconciliation of apparently conflicting interests. In Britain recently the committee presided over by Sir Arthur Salter, the eminent economist, decided the issue in a manner that, could hardly be described as universally satisfactory, yet in a manner that was obviously in the national interest. The rea-. soning used by the committee is hardly applicable to this country where conditions are widely different, but the method of attacking the problem is of definite interest to us.”