XN000022-1982-05-05 — Page 4

WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 1982

3

+LICENCE FEES CAN OF COURSE BE EASILY FURTHER ADJUSTED, DEPENDING ON THE EFFECT OF THESE INCREASES, HE ADDED.

IT WAS THOUGHT APPROPRIATE TO COMBINE THE EXISTING TWO CATEGORIES BELOW 1 000 CC AND FROM 1 000 CC TO 1 500 CC, BECAUSE A SHIFT IN OWNERSHIP FROM THE HIGHER CYLINDER CAPACITY CATEGORY TO THE LOWER WOULD LESSEN THE IMPACT OF THE PROPOSALS. (AT THE END OF MARCH THERE WERE 15 363 MOTOR VEHICLES BELOW 1 000 CC AND 88 233 WITH CYLINDER CAPACITIES BETWEEN 1 000 AND 1 500).

EXPLAINING THE BASIS OF THE INCREASES, MR SCOTT RECALLED THAT THE PASSENGER TRANSPORT STUDY IN 1966 HAD RECOMMENDED THAT ANNUAL LICENCE FEES SHOULD BE INCREASED TO AN AVERAGE OF

$2 000 PER ANNUM BY THE EARLY 1970S IF VEHICLE GROWTH WAS NOT TO GET OUT OF HAND. IN FACT, THE AVERAGE LICENCE FEE, EVEN BY 1973, WAS ONLY $232.

IN 1976, THE COMPREHENSIVE TRANSPORT STUDY RECOMMENDED THAT BY 1991, THE AVERAGE LICENCE FEE SHOULD BE $2 632 AT 1974 PRICES.

TAKING A LINEAR INCREASE AND ALLOWING FOR INFLATION, SAID MR SCOTT, THE INTERPOLATED FIGURE AT THE END OF 1981 WOULD BE APPROXIMATELY $2 850 AT CURRENT PRICES. THE AVERAGE IN FACT ON MARCH 31, 1982 WAS $695.

MR SCOTT SAID THE COMPREHENSIVE TRANSPORT STUDY WAS CARRIED OUT DURING THE PERIOD OF RECESSION AND IT WORKED ON AN UNDER- ESTIMATION OF THE GROWTH IN GDP FROM 1976 ONWARDS. THE STUDY'S FIGURES OF REQUIRED LEVELS OF ANNUAL LICENCE FEE ARE THEREFORE ALSO UNDER-ESTIMATED, HE ADDED.

*FURTHER, WE HAVE SO TO SPEAK LOST GROUND BY NOT INCREASING LICENCE FEES OVER THE LAST FIVE YEARS TO THE LEVELS RECOMMENDED IN THE COMPREHENSIVE TRANSPORT STUDY.+

THE PROPOSALS, HE SAID, WOULD PRODUCE AN AVERAGE FEE OF ABOUT $2 100.

DUTY ON LIGHT OILS

THE THIRD PROPOSAL CALLS FOR AN INCREASE OF 70 CENTS PER LITRE IN THE DUTY ON LIGHT OILS, NAMELY MOTOR AND AVIATION SPIRIT. LAST REVISED IN 1976, THE PROPOSED INCREASE WOULD SIMPLY BRING UP THE DUTY TO THE LEVEL OF INCIDENCE OF 1976.

MR SCOTT CAUTIONED, HOWEVER, THAT QUITE APART FROM FISCAL REASONS, CONSIDERATION COULD BE GIVEN TO FURTHER INCREASES ON SUBSEQUENT OCCASIONS FOR TRANSPORT POLICY REASONS.

HE SAID IT WAS NOT PROPOSED TO INCREASE THE DUTY ON DIESEL OIL USED BY PUBLIC TRANSPORT BUSES, PLBS AND TAXIS — BECAUSE OF THE EFFECT, ALTHOUGH RELATIVELY SMALL, IT WOULD HAVE ON THE COST OF OPERATION.

/HOWEVER, IN