The Washington herald., 1918-08-18

What hnal form of taxing the
motor car owner will be decided
upon by Congress It is not possible
yet to predict. All revenue meas
! ures originate in the House of
Representatives and then go to the
Senate. which may disagree radi-
cally with the Houses interpreta-
ton of the situation. Then the
measures passed by the two
branches go to the conferees.
President David Jameson OF the
American Automobile Association
recently presented to the two COM
mittees the case OF the car owner
in communications to Chairman
Kitchen of the House Ways and
Means Committee and to Chairman
Simmons Of the Senate Finance
Committee. Mr.. Jameson COM
mented upon the fact that the mo-
torist now receives extensive taxa
tion attention from the several
States, referred to the certainty
that any impost on new cars would
be passed along to the consumer.
and contended that any charge on
the original cost of used cars
would be manifestly unjust. Mr..
Jameson asserted that it would be
as fair to tax. coal as gasoline,
since both are fuel producing guam
titles.
Several days after the filing of
Mr.. Jameson's communications. the
House committee announced that 1t
had decided to base the Federal tax
on cars in use on a horsepower
basis instead of on the original
cost.
A copy OF the letter which the
A. A. A. head directed to the two
committees of Congress which have
taxation matters in charge fol-
lows:
Spokesman For Owners.
"As the spokesmen in an organized
form of the motor car owners of the
country. We did not seek a hearing
before your committee, as we are
Of the opinion that the present COM
prehensive use Of the automobile is
entirely clear to all Of you. There
are a few points. however, which.
briefly, we would like to bring to your
attention.
"of 1.7ss,soO motor vehicles pro-
duced In 1917. less than 8 per cent
sold at $500 or upwards. Three out
OF every four cars cost not over
100. These 1,3s5.000 represented 70
per cent of the total Every other
car was Of a certain popular make,
selling close to $500. Farmers were
the best buyers as a class. absorbing
81 per cent Of the total vehicles man
ufactured.
"our Investigations recently by
chairmen Of the good roads, legisla-
tive and touring boards supports
anew the contention that the passen-
ger automobile IL now nine-tenths for
utility and scarcely one-tenth devoted
to what has been designated as pleas
ure riding. True It is that vacation
periods may be spent in the form of
interstate road journeys, and there
may be local evening and Sunday
trips. but the fact remains that a
preponderating percentage of the
cars mileage IL employed by MEM
bers OF the family to crowd more
work into one day than was ever be-
fore possible.
Accept without Protest
IF your committee decides that
there should be substantial taxation
Of an essential like highways trans
portation-and all forms are consid-
ered-we shall accept without protest
your findings. believing that war rev.
enue necessities demand such action.
''Railroad conditions have compelled
an increasing use Of the highways,
to the extent that long-distance trav-
cling Il more general than in pre-
vious years. The figures come to
US through the distribution Of thou
sands Of maps by the road bureaus
at our national headquarters in
Washington and New York, besides
which we supply our several hum
dred clubs In all parts Of the country.
"one illuminating example Of what
can be done where q highway IL
constructed capable of meeting pres
ent maximum tredac demands exists