Taxing a Tool of Industry
Page 57
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FROM time to time we hear outcries about the cost of transport; Whether it be for goods or for passengers._ We also -hear cries for better roads and that road trar4ort must contribute to them.
To get the situation' into focus it is as wdl to understand some of the facts governing the costs of road transport, The acCompanying table shows, for four different classes of vehicle, the load which direct taxation imposes. Those.chOsen to illustrate the issue are typical, not exaggerated, and the figures can be fully substantiated. They are confined to vehicles forming what may be called the "conveyor belt of industry." .They are in fact some of the tools by which the industry of this country is carried on.
It will be seen from the figures that in direct taxation
alone each vehicle has to —collect, in tax, amounts ranging from one and a half to three times its original cost, over a life and mileage deliberately underestimated.
On the goods-carrying side the basic type of vehicle adopted in this Country for the conveyance of goods in bulk is the eight-wheeler. This will cost just under £4,000 and commonly runs mileages in excess of 80,000 per annum. In 10 years. each of such vehicles has to collect over £13,000 in tax. _ Each double-deck bus by which we travel to and from our work costs £4.500 and has to collect froth' its 'passengers £5,774 in tax over a life of 10 years.
If the service :which' these vehicles provide were in the luxury class, such .a weight of taxation would be. seere: as a tax on the arteries' through which the life blood of our cemmunity flows, it is fantastic.
, H. W. FtturoN,
Managing Director. (For Albion Motors, Ltd.) Glasgow, W.4. .
• A CLEVER BONUS SCHEME TN "The Commercial Motor" dated December 29, • 1 1944, you published an arfiele by me concerning a wall-chart system for use in controlling a transport fleet. At that time I was planning to give the drivers a day •. oil once in a while as an inducement to keep them
on their. toes." 'However, having had eight years of civilian* experience since then, .1 have changed my views somewhat and now favour a special bonus.
I think that my system is so simple that even those people who would like to institute a. bonus scheme, but do not because of their fear of getting involved in a lot: of extra. work, could calculate the amounts due in a matter of minutes each pay day.
It should be borne in' mind that
we are engaged in coal haulage and that we have been doing 4 good deal of opencast work, where; as will be realized, much drivers' time can be gained or lo:St.
I take the total tonnage for the week, which need only be extracted from the books and may take a minute, and the total load-carrying employees' hours .(drivers only). This figure comes from the wages book and can be totalled in about five Minutes.
Then I divide the total hours into the total tonnage, which gives me an index.
. The index (which was the hardest part to arrange) starts from 1.750 and goes up to 5,750 in units of .025, each unit being valued at 2d. Examples are as follow:--.2.859 tons • (a) ----equals 3.365, equals bonus of 10s. 9d. 850 hours 1,724 tons (b) equals 3.645, equals bonus of 12s. 8d 475 hours 3,409 tons , equals 2.675. equals bonus of (is. 2d. 1,280 hours
(c)
The highest index of 5.750 is valued at 26s. 8d., so once the list is made out, 10 minutes' work each pay day is 'ampleto calculate the bonus. The hard part, of course, is to arrange an index which will suit the operator concerned. •
. This .system was started last February. and. I think it has fully justified itself. The bonus index graph has risen steadily ever, since that dale. The bonus for the first week was 3s. 4d.; it has now risen to 12s. 8d.
D. H. W000, Transport Manager.
. (For William Wood and Sons .
Huddersfield. • . (Huddersfield). Ltd.) NO PONS ASINORUM WITH .reference to the " One Hears--" paragraph in " your issue dated May 23, concerning the designation of our Euclids, we would like to point out that although the symbols Mentioned are not ;actually used in their description; the principles of-thefekact 'science associated
• with our name have not been forgotten. This is demonstrated by the ." Quick Earth Dumping " performance of Our trucks and the " Quick Earth Filling" for which our scrapers are designed. W. RANKIN, Chief Draughtsman.
(For Euclid (Great Britain), Ltd.) Newhouse Industrial Estate, Lanarkshire.