DERATING.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20181, 9 March 1931, Page 10

DERATING.

UNFAIR TAXATION.

MOTORISTS protest. STATEMENT OF POLICY. ' ,1 ITHB Service.] WELLINGTON, March 8. After a lengthy discussion the North Island (N,Z.) Motor Union decided to issue the following statement of policy in regard to the demands of the Farmers' Unions for derating of farm lands for the purposes of road construction and maintenance: — ' "Had the original conception upon which the Main Highways Beard's finances were planned been followed in the last two years there would not have been any need to raise the question of derating, because the original Main Highways plan was bound in time to result in partial derating. The Union has no objection to derating so long as any resultant deficiency in county fliqds is made good by the Consolidated Fund. "The Union has already strenuously opposed the placing of an increased burden on the shoulders of county ratepayers by the diversion of Highways Board funds from roading purposes to the general purposes of government, The amount diverted last year. was £647,718, made up as follows: ■ :* ■ The annual grant of £35,000 from the Consolidated Fund discontinued 35,000 The Road Fund is charged S per < cent, interest on free grants made iu the past, (and this interest' goea btwk to the Consolidated Fund—--6 per cent, on £1,228,000 >. 61,000 Tin Road Fund ie now a»ked tp pay a subsidy to local authorities ' ® which for the poet fiO years hoto been a charge on the Consolidated Fund .. .. .. 220,000 Amount spent on unemployment relief work .. .. .. 283,718 Amount spent on repairing earth- - quake damage in the Murchison area—say .... • .. .. - 43,000 Not?: The actual sum expended , by the Board iji the Murchison area was £86,378. 4647,713 Changed Conditions. "Prior to the advent of the motorcar, the necessity for roads to enable the farmers to market their produce existed, and tbo Union contends that the motor taxation which motorists voluntarily offered to pay under the Main Highways scheme fully covers the cost of the better surfaces rendered necessary by the use of motor vehicles. The respective contributions to highway construction and maintenance since the Act came into operation are as under:— Local authorities .. £8,65-9,367 Motor taxation .. £6,749,743 "Cities and boroughs 'with a population of 6000 and over receive at pre* sent only 8 per cent, of the petrol tax and none of the tyre tax, registration and license fees, 'the remaining $8 per cent, from petrol taxipd all the registration and license fees gping to the counties. If the petrol tax is increased to make provision fer. derating, these cities and boroughs will undoubtedly demand a much larger share of the tax. "The county ratepayer in danger of paying far more'by way of increased petrol tpx than he would be relieved of in rates by derating. Thia ift 'illustrated by the fact that the farmer has obtained no benefit whatever from the last increase in the petrol tax. , Comparison with England.' "In England a tax of 4d per gallon on petrol is levied, In New Zealand the petrol tax is od, which, plus other motor taxation, sbSlcob. to finance the derating scheme. ' But there is . just this difference between England and New Zealand, that in England the Government is empowered to contribute up to £5,000,000 annually towards the de* 1 rating scheme, whereas in New ZegZ , land we not only have no State subsidy to the road fund but instead find it > raided repeatedly for the general ' pur--1 poses of Government! "The county rates' in New. Zealand, excluding hospital rates, amounted in 1030 to £1,040,935, Last year £047,718,, was diverted from the highways funds and this sum would have gone a long; way towards assisting counties.'' This ,being so, .the .Motor Unipn feels that farmers should aid it in seeing that the Main Highways funds ore administered as it was originally intended they should be and so secure the relief they are seeking. "On the grounds new and previously stated, the Motor Union trill strongly oppose any additional taxation whatever being placed upen motorists."