Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1922-08-25
ONE CENT EACH AMOUNT OF TAX
 FOR ROAD KEEP
This Is Average Cost To Citizens of Nation To Maintain Highways.

Citizens of Nation To
 Maintain Highways.
 By Harlow Hyde in Indianapolis Star
 Thomas H. Macdonald, chief of the United States bureau of roads, says in spite of the millions spent on high ways each year it has cost but penny q day a person. This statement makes the matter of highway construction expense clearer than ever before. Much has been written about the sub ject, but the fact that it, is the great est business enterprise of nation, state and county. and that it always deals in huge figures has confused the sub feet. The total is immense, but so is the country with its 110,00O,0OO to bear the expense, and approximately 12,OOO,OOO motor vehicles and count less wagons that still hold to the highways
 About fourth of the amounts spent each year on rural highways of the improved type comes from the nation al treasury. All this Federal aid comes from the taxpayer first, of course, in the form of taxes. The motor car buyers and users, on the other hand, pay more than their full share. The lions share comes from them because, aside from all income taxes taken by the government, the nation also takes 5 per cent of the sale price of the motor car, the tires and motor. vehicle parts.
 $7O,O00,O0O From Autos
 The government collects as much from the taxes of this sort as it pays back in the form of Federal aid roads. Approximately 2,OOO,0OO motor ve- hicles to be bought this year will pay at least $7O,OOO,00O in excise taxes. The taxes on tires and parts will be added to this. This is a great deal more than the amount voted by con- gress to go oSt in Federal aid for this year, not counting the money still due on old Federal aid allotments. The large proportion of those who pay this 5 per cent sales tax, although the law calls it an excise tax, also pay con- siderable sums in income taxes and other taxes to the national govern ment. If the men and women who pay such taxes are not entitled to the most practical and modern roads and to this sort of government and state consid- eration, we wonder what citizen has any right. In spite of this, there is at large in parts of the land a com plaint that modern roads costs too much, that the country can not af- ford them. The whole thing costs but a penny day. Even if it costs 2 cents day to build the roads neces- sary for the 12,000,0 ,000 motor vehicles that will exist in few months, and for the benefit of the nearly 40,000,- GOO of people who use these vehicles, the transportation would be cheap. The hundreds of millions the highways cost sounds big, but this is a big land and it has a tremendously large pop ulation, all of whom use the roads or benefit by them,and the whole cam paign to date has not cost more than penny a day.
 The estimate that there is $680,- 100000 available for use in 1922 seems large. As a matter of fact a great deal less than this will be spent this year, if the history of recent years is repeated. Nearly every recent year has shown more money available than the highway people have been able to use in actual road work. Of the money for roads for 1922 about $275,- 100000 is state funds raised in sev- eral different ways. Twenty-Five states raise road taxes, that are levied at one-tenth of mill to three and half mills. Sixteen states appropriate by legislative acts for the construction of state roads. These two items amount to about $57,00O, ,OOO for this year. In eighteen states funds from state road bond issues for this year amount to s1Os,OOO,OOO.
 Shows at End of Year
 Of the total bond issues of the states and the counties of the coun- try for this and for later years there are about $1,OO0,0OO,OOO. All this sounds like huge amount of money. Add the whole together for a year, the state, national and the county road expenditures for modern improved roads of all types and we obtain the penny day" total of MacDonald The one thing we must all remember IS the size of the land, the tremendous population of the country and the need of modern roads for all those 1Z,000,0O0 motor vehicles on1 4L