MOTOR TAXATION

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 190, 13 August 1938, Page 8

MOTOR TAXATION

SHOULD BE USED "OR ROADS DOMINION WIDE MOVE WANGANUI COUNTY’S SUPPORT The Wanganui County Council yesterday decided to support a Dominionwide effort being made to induce the Government to expend all petrol tax revenue on highways instead, as al present, of using a considerable sum for the general purposes of Government. The matter was introduced by a letter from the Canterbury Progress League giving details of the expenditure of the taxation paid by motorists. The letter stated that at a conference of local bodies and automobile authorities in Christchurch the following motion, for which support was desired, had been carried:— “That in view of the rapid increase in motor traflic, the increased use of highways and the consequent pressing need for maintenance and improvement of highways, this conference urges that the whole of the net proceeds of motor spirit taxation, including the 4id per gallon now devoted to the general purposes of the Government, be transferred to the Main Highways Account and expended for highway purposes.” The chairman, who moved that th? resolution should be supported, said that it was his opinion that more money could have been spent on back-country and secondary roads. During the depression, said Cr. T. Mitchell, the Government was looking for money and the petrol tax provided a source of revenue. However, with the return of better times, he felt that the petrol tax should no longer be used for the purpose of Government. The tax was raised for a specific purpose and should be spent on the roads.