THE TAXATION PROPOSALS.
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How Commercial Vehicles are Affected. The Incidence of Collection.
IN THE SPEECH of the Chancellor of the, Exchequer in. which he introduced the Budget for the current year, he announced that the Govern• iment proposed substantially to adopt the recommendations of the representative committee appointed by the Ministry of Transport, which has been investigating the subject of motor-vehicle taxation, the report of, which was laid before Parliament a few days prior to the Budget Speech.
He said that the committee supportecithe objection which he expressed to the tax on motor fuel, and recommended that a licence • duty on motor vehicles should take its place. Rather, we are prepared to think that the committee found themselves in the position of being required to support the Chancellor's view expressed a year previously, that the-tax on motor fuel would have to go. We believe . that the volume of opinion, even if unexpressed, is in . favour of the retention of the tax on motor fuel because it is really a method of taxation proportionate to user. Innumerable difficulties have been found in cdnnection with the collection of the duty, and this has been the over-riding influence in favour of a change.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer said that the new tax cannot be brought into force until J anua ry 1st next, so that, until the end of this year, commercial vehicles, hackney carriages, and agricultural vehicles will only be taxed by way of the motor-spirit duty, with the advantage of the rebate which is allowed in such cases.
The departmental committee's report has so far *only inquired into the queationfe of taxation and revenue, other matters such as (a) registration and licensing; (b) design, construction, and weight ; (c) identification e• (d) speed limits; (e) roads, will be
dealt with in later reports. , In regard to taxation, the revenue to be derived front road vehicles by taxation, direct or indirect, is expected to produce £8,125,000, after including the revenue from all parts of the British Islands, and deducting the cost of collection and the amount which has to be paid to local authorities in lieu of the carriage licences (which formerly were collected ahd retained by them for local purposes). It is extremely interesting to get antofficial estimate of the number of motor vehicles which, it is assumed, will he on the rciad as at midsummer, 1920. These figures are, of course, Treasury. figures, and are based upon knowledge which may be. regarded as being fairly accurate. They show an extraordinary advance upon the figures which were issued a little over a. year ago after the last issue of petrol licences, and we set them, out in a table below:—
to which must be added one-eighth for Scotland and Ireland. Our own feeling is that the Budget figures are, in some respects,. optimistic ; if they. should, however, prove to be correct, very interesting evidence will be given of the vitality and capacity for development in the motor movement.
• The proposals of the departmental 'Committee with regard to the method of assessing the licence duty on different classes of vehicles is as follows : Motorcycles will be taxed according to category, that is to say, the vehicles will fall into certain categories according to weight, character of the attachments, etc. Private motorcars will be taxed on horse-power, the proposal being £1 per h.p. The class of vehicles in which this journal is interested will be taxed—as to commercial vehicles, on their unladen weight; as to hackney vehicles, on their seating capacity ; and as to other commercial and agricultural vehicles, also on their unladen weight. Dealing with these now in fuller detail., commercial goods . vehicles (which phraseincludes threewheelers weighing 7 cwt, or over, unladen) are divided into six classes, which, with. the rates suggested for each class, are as follow
Claes. Suggested.
Not exceeding 12 cwt. unladen ... £10 Exceeding a cwt., but not exceeding 1 ton, unladen ... ... 210 Exceeding 1 ton, but not -exceeding 2 tons, unladen ... ... 221 , Exceeding 2 tons, but not exceeding 3 tons,
unladen ... ... £25 Exceeding 3 tons, but not exceeding 4 tons,
unladen . .. /28 Over 4 tons, unladen weight 230 Any of the•foregoing with the right to draw a trailer (additional) ... In ascertaining, the weight of electric vehicles, the weight of the accumulators has to be. excluded, and, of course, in ascertaining the weight of petrol vehicles, it is. usual to weigh minus oil, water and fuel. With •regard to hackney carriages, these, again, are divided into six-classes as follows: — Trackless trolley vehicles to be chargeable to duty
as motor omnibuses. r
Other commercial and agricultural vehicles are dealt with as follow :—
Owe. Suggested.
Motor tractors, classed as heaVy motorcars, and inclusive of legally 'permitted trailers ... £21 .Road locomotives and agricultural engines (in 'elusive of trailers) not exceeding 8 tons, unladen weight ... Exceeding 8 tons, but not exceeding 12 tons unladen weight ... ... £28 Exceeding 12 tons unladen weight ... £30 Agricultural tractors used on roads for haulage solely in•connection with-agriculture, .exceed. ing 2-i tons, but not exceeding 5 tons, unladen. weight ... Exceeding 5 tons ... 210 A tractor means a mechanically or electrically propelled engine which draws, but does not itself carry anyload, except. such as is necessary for its propulsion and equipment.
With regard to the new taxation, -it has to be ohserved that not only is the motor-fuel duty (asfrom January let next) entirely displaced, but licensing and registration will be combined, and the new scale of duties will include all registration fees; in elitsct, c29
this il1 get over the present defective system of registration, which keeps on the books practically the whole of the vehicles that have eves been registered, as few vehicle owners ever take the trouble to advise registering aethorifies that a vehicle has been dismantled, broken up, or has left the country. All fixed yearly licences will expire on Lecember 31st in each year, but fixed quarterly licences will also be issued to expire on March 31st, June 30th,, September 30th, and December 31st in each year on payment of a premium of 20 per cent, above onequarter of the yearly tax.
The first licence in respect of a-motor vehicle must be taken out with the.local authority in whose area the vehicle is kept. The authority will issue to the licensee (1) the licence which will be a card of a distinctive colour indicating thereby when it expires, and containing the necessary particulars as to the vehicle and its ownership ; (2) a book somewhat on. the lines of a post-office savings book, containing full particulars in regard to the vehicle, particulars of registration, and the name and address of the licensee ; the licence to be always carried on the vehicle-in a,conspicuous place, where it can be seen by any passenger, or, when the vehicle is stationary, by any police or taxation officer, and to be protected against damage by rain or other causes. This is an excellent opportunity for the accessory manufacturers to provide owners with yet another accessory !
The first licence will be renewable at any post office on production of the expiring licence and the book, A fresh card will then be issued, and in the book'will be entered the date of renewal and the amount paid, the local authority being advised of's such renewal, whilst, if the licence is not renewed, the book and the card must be forthwith surrendered to the local authority by whom they were issued. If a vehicle is transferred, any current licence may be transferred with it, but a new licence-must be taken out with the appropriate local authority, that is to say, the one, in whose area the vehicle is kept, who will re-register the vehicle and issue a new licence. This, of course, means that. the registration number will be changed, which apparently involves extra expense in number plates.
A concession has been made to owners of certain private ears, that is to say, thosethe engines of which were constructed prior to January 1st, 1913, in the shape of a rebate of 25 per cent, on the duties. There are quite a number of commercial vehicles of that ago and older, and representation should be made to the Ministry of Transport to secure the extension of this concession to owners thereof.
The -report. is signed by the whole of the committee with the exception of Major Stenson Cooke; secretary to the A.A. and 'MU., who adds a minotity report in which.he dissents from the decisions of the committee on grounds which are of some importance' to the interests of private motorists, but. which do not concern the owner of the commercial vehicle. His proposal, however, is that there should be a flat, rate of 40. per gallon of motor spirit.