VOICE OF MOTORISTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1037, 30 July 1930, Page 7

VOICE OF MOTORISTS

55,000 AGAINST NEW PETROL LEVY REPORT TO PARLIAMENT A report prepared by the combined Automobile Asociations of New Zealand in support of their protest against the Government’s proposal to increase the petrol tax, was forwarded to the Prime Minister, the Hon. G. W. Forbes, on July 17, and has now been distributed among the members of Parliament. This report represents the views of 55,000 motorists in 16 associations. Graphs which accompany the report show the immense growth since 1923 of gross motor-taxation, which includes petrol tax, registration and licence fees. Customs duty, motor-body duty, tyre tax, duty on lubricating oils, heavy traffic fees and primage. In 1929 the total contributed by car-owners was £3,094,975, four times as great as that collected in 1923, when £790,732 went from motorists to the national coffers. Gross motor taxation is shown to have grown from slightly more than onefifth that of income-tax to almost its equal. Between the years 1925 and 1929 the number of motor-vehicles had doubled, but the gross taxation increased out of all proportion, being £340,303. more than double.

A second graph shows the rapidity with which the total -collected by the Main Highways Board in petrol-tax. on figures for the past three years, is approaching the total county rates. Even without the extra threepence a gallon, the highways total would be equal to the.county total by March 31, 1931. In other words the motorist, from contributing nothing directly toward roadmaking in 1922, will this year contribute a sum probably greater in amount than the counties. BEER AND BENZINE

“Some people still cling to the idea that a motor-car is a luxury,” states the report covering a third graph. “Nowadays it is as much a necessity an our commercial and social life as the horse-drawn vehicle was 20 years ago. While it may be disputed in' certain quarters that beer is a luxury, yet it is doubtful if it is a necessity. Beerdrinkers pay one-third of their money in tax. With the additional tax on petrol, motorists will be called on to pay in exactly the same proportion.” The report shows that during the past four years North Auckland counties spent £65,824 on main highways, which comprise 22 per cent, of their total roads. This was approximately the same sum a mile as was spent on the remaining 78 per cent., notwithstanding the fact that the main highways carried 85 per cent, of the total traffic. The associations claim that this shows that rural roads are not being starved at the expense of good roads for through traffic. A quotation from the Government Year Book shows that farmers pay little more than half the total landtax collected in the Dominion, and claims Lire made that this position is not deserving of the special treatment being meted out. Of the total petrol-tax collected, 92 per cent, is spent in the counties, only 8 per cent, going to the cities where live a large number of motorists who go into the country seldom or never. Further questions such as motor taxation in relation to unemployment through roading relief work and bodybuilding, and as to who will ultimately pay the extra taxation is discussed comprehensively. PRESIDENT’S VIEWS That the improved roads made available through the voluntary contributions of motorists to the'•Main Highways Board was one of the main factors in the increases in volume of primary exports was the view expressed by Mr. A. Grayson, president of t.he Auckland Automobile Association, this morning. There had hardly been time for the benefit of the present petrol-tax to be felt, but it was estimated that by the end of the present financial year in March, the counties would bo in a better position to appreciate its true value. Many counties had already improved their financial position through the Highways Board’s activities, and the motorists’ associations consider the proposed increase in taxation and raid on the Highways Fund to be unwarranted. Today motorists are paying more than their fair share. A telegram was sent to the Hon. A. J. Stallworthy, Minister of Health, requesting his co-operation. The A.A.A. received a reply yesterday asking its help in endeavouring to balance the Budget.