CUSTOMS DUTIES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19648, 6 September 1926, Page 5

CUSTOMS DUTIES

- THE RECENT INCREASE HEAVIEST ON AMERICAN CARS TYRES AND SPEEDOMETERS The new tariff amendments will weigh heavily against American ears, tyres, bicycles and speedometers. The preferential duty on 10 per cent, remains unchanged and British and Canadian cars will be subject to no inI crease under this head. The general tariff of 25 per cent, is increased to 35 per cent. The body tax has been amended to 10 per cent, up to £2OO, and 5 per cent, thereafter on British cars, and 15 per rent, up to £2OO, and 74 per cent, thereafter on cars which do not come under i the preferential tariff. The former body tax was a flat rate i of £lO for a double-seater British body ■ and £ls for a foreign body. Singleseater bodies were £5 and £7 10s respectively. Comparison of the Duties Although termed a 4 ‘body tax’’ the ! duty is calculated on the value of the chassis and body together. The dutiI able values are the invoice-prices of the ears in the country of origin plus 10 1 per cent. The taxation of bodies on ja percentage basis will result in an in- | crease for even British and Canadian I cars since the dutiable value of a : double-seater car would have to be • only £IOO to produce a £lO body tax. The obvious effect of the new tariff, : therefore, will be to add from £5 to £lO to the price of many popular-priced English and Canadian, cars. American can* in the same price-class are worse off by comparison than under I he old duties, since the medium-priced class will j carry total duties equivalent to as much i as 50 per cent, of the dutiable value, which will involve a price addition of

£25 to £3O on cars selling in New ZeaI land in the £3OO to £4OO price-class. The relative effects of the duties may be illustrated by taking the cases of a British and an American car, each having a dutiable value of £2OO. If an • ordinary four or five-seater touring car ; at this price is considered, the duties compare as follow:

Tlie Range of Importations Over 94 per cent, of the American cars imported into New Zealand last I year were complete with bodies. Of the ■4729 American passenger-cars imported I for the first six months of this year, i only 443 were without bodies. Passenger cars ami chassis are being ' imported into Now Zealand at the rate jof nearly 2000 a month. About 46 per I cent, of the cars are from Canada, ! America 's share is about 39 per cent., ! and Great Britain supplies 12 per cent. ! The combined imports from Italy, .France and Belgium are, only three per cent, of the total. The new tariff imposes a duty of 35 i per cent, on foreign tyres and leaves j the preferential rate of 10 per cent, standing. Less than one-quarter of j New Zealand’s imports are of American ] origin. Over half are Canadian, and | tyros from the United Kingdom com- • prise about one-seventh of the total { value of the imports. The only other I country contributing to any extent is | France, which is represented l y about lone-fourteenth of the aggregate. Italy, i Belgium and Germany account for the balance.

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British or Canadian Old Rate. New Rate. £ £ Duty at 10 p.c. 20 20 Body tax 10 20 — — £30 or 15 p.c. £40 or 20 p.c American Old Rate, ft "cw Rate. Duty 50 70 Body tax .... 1 o 30 — — £65 or 321 p.c. £100 or 50 p.c