TAXING TROUBLES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11505, 29 September 1915, Page 5

TAXING TROUBLES.

PETROL DUTY REFUNDS. UNEASINESS ABOUT CARS. The primage duty is the new disturbing factor in the comnieVcial world. As it cannot bo avoided, most merchants will try to take it philosophically, and there is a feeling now that amendments are hopeless with the end of the session at hand and the House iu no mood to argue. There is a good deal of satisfaction over the refund of duty on motor spirit. If duty has been paid by importers or retail buyers a refund can be claimed. Many firms raised the. price immediately, but others declined to make an increase while they held old stocks. The primage duty will fall as an additional burden on motor dealers. Already they are suffering by the increased duty, except in the ease of the low-priced American cars, which will reap a great harvest from the new taxation. Engl'sh cars cannot be got. French and Italian ears have to pay the same duty as neutral cars, plus (in the case of Italian cars) an export duty, A leading motor importer pointed out again to-day that a particular make of American car, merely because it was assembled within the Canadian border, was getting preferential treatment, and other American car makers, he believed, were about to adopt the same policy. The effect was that the higher-priced European cars would be pushed right out of the market.