§ Sir A. HOLBROOKasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport to state the cost of collection of the present tax on motor vehicles; and whether, seeing that this tax operates unfairly on certain classes of vehicles, he will consider the desirability of reverting to the former system of a tax on petrol consumption?
§ Mr. NEALThe information asked for in the first part of the question is not yet completely available, but so far as an estimate can be formed, it is anticipated that the cost will be some £400,000.
The various methods of taxation by which the necessary revenue could be raised were carefully considered by a Committee, under the chairmanship of Sir Henry Maybury, the members of which were appointed by the late Minister of Transport from the nominations of the following bodies:—
Commercial Motor Users' Association.
Automobile Association and Motor Union.
Royal Automobile Club.
London and Provincial Omnibus Owners' Association
Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
County Councils' Association.
Royal Agricultural Society (England),
together with representatives of the Ministry of Transport, the Police, the Treasury, and the Board of Customs and Excise.
This Committee, with only one dissentient, reported in 1920 against the Petrol Tax and in favour of the scheme which received legislative sanction in the Finance Act, 1920, and the allocation of the burden amongst the different classes of vehicle was framed by members of the Committee representing the trade and users, and was accepted by the Committee as a whole and by the Minister, unaltered. I do not think the time has yet arrived 652W for a revision, but the matter will be further considered at a later period of the year.