Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1923-01-12

| lioH Oh the state has right to an ap-
portioned benefit of money contribut-
ed by the whole state. Nobody can
foresee what the ultimate issue OF
bonds will be, but it will be enor-
nous. Senator Goolrick of Freder-
icksburg says that $4,000 900 should
be the minimum.
Chairman Shirley is quoted as sayin Q
that it will cost from $75,O0O,O00 to
10O,000.000 to complete the present
highway system. In North Carolina
where $500O0,00O has been authoriz-
| ed, the North Carolina Good Roads
| Association is demanding additional
bond issues, together with a three
cent gasoline tax. The 1000 miles
now comprehended in the system
must be largely increased if all sec
tons are to have equal service. 1t is
idle to delude ourself with the belle
that If we once begin we will stop at
an issue of $12,O00,000.
Whatever theoretical arguments
may be advanced in favor of a bond
issue, there is one fact which at this
time should control. That fact is that
majority of the present House of
Delegates was elected upon anti-bond
platforms and pledges. Should a ma
jority of the House of Delegates now
do what it promised as the price of
its election not to do, many thousands
of our best citizens will think that
they have been deceived and betray-
ed by their representatives Even
from the standpoint of road building,
nothing should be done which will
arouse the active resentment of great
numbers of taxpayers and voters. No
such atmosphere should surround the
inauguration of public policy in
volving an enormous expenditure of
public money. Roads cannot be built
by warning factions, and the Highway
department must have behind it a
reasonably united public.
When the free voice of all the peo-
pie speaks next November, and a ma
jority of the General Assembly is
elected for or against the bond issue
there will be general acquiescence in
the verdict. l regard the propaganda
to induce members of the House of
Delegates to violate their pledges as
a counsel of extreme unwisdom. In
any case, upon so great a matter, the
people should be permitted to speak
through their elected representatives.
A bond issue is a mortgage on all the
property of the state No one would
buy bonds the payment of whose in
terest and principal is based solely
upon a gasoline tax. Should not the
people say whether a great mortgage
should be put upon them, their chill
dren and their childrens children?
Advantages of Gasoline Tax.
In an able paper, Senator Epes has
clearly pointed out the advantages of
a gasoline tax as compared to the
bond issue. On state highways, motor
traffic is a large proportion of the
total traffic. In 1918, the records of
the Valley Turnpike Company show
ed that go per cent of the tolls was
paid by motor vehicles and s per cent
by horse-drawn vehicles. The per-
centage of motor traffic constantly
tends to become larger. The usual
toll on turnpikes for automobiles is
3 cents per mile. The average ma
chine travels twelve miles on a gal
Ion of gasoline. Therefore, cent
toll is equivalent to a 36c per gallon
gasoline tax. In comparison a SC per
gallon gasoline tax is moderate.
If roads are to be built they must
be paid for. The gasoline tax is fair
because automobiles make by far the
greatest use of the highways. 1t is a
tax directly benefitting those who pay
it, because as the roads become better
the per mile consumption of gasoline
and the wear on the machines will be
reduced. The damage to the road is
in proportion to the weight of the ma
chine, and the heavier the machine
the more gasoline it uses. Thus the
tax is proportional to the damage.
The foreign tourist must pay a part OF
this tax. The tax is not onerous, as
three-cent tax would average about
$14.13 per machine per year. 1t is
estimated that foreign tourists will
pay 10 per cent, reducing the tax per
Virginia machine to less than S13.
Fords and lighter machines will pay
less than the average, trucks and
heavier machines more This tax is
collected with almost no cost. Dis
tributors of gasoline in other states
have agreed to pay the tax at its
source and send the auditor a check
each month. The Chairman of the
Highway Commission of North Caro-
lima testified in Richmond last winter
that 1T cost 800 month additional
clerk for him to collect the gasoline
tax in that state. No new Offices will
be created.
A bond issue would involve pay
ment of commissions to bankers and
the withdrawal of great sum from
taxation, because to the already enor-
nous amount of non-taxable securi-
ties there would be added many mil
lions. Virginia investors who would
otherwise likely invest in taxable Sc
curities would seek the non-taxable
Virginia bonds. In nineteen states the
gasoline tax is in satisfactory opera
ton. Many other states are favorably
considering either increasing the pres
ent gasoline tax or levying such a
tax.
Funds Available.
In Virginia there are now register
ed 175,000 motor cars. The average
receipts in the nineteen states from a
one-cent gasoline tax is $4.52 per car
per year. In North Carolina it is
SAT-. Taking the North Carolina
basis, a one-cent tax on gasoline used
by 175,000 cars would realize $824,250s
ten per cent of which would be paid
by foreign cars and trucks. At this
rate &c tax would produce S1,650,000,
and a &c tax $2,500,000 With the aid of
bond advocates this tax can be made an
emergency measure and in effect upon
its passage and therefore be available
in full for the fiscal year March /,
1923-1924.
The auto license tax increased from
approximately 100000 in 1921 to
$500, 900. in 1922, an increase of 25
per cent 1t is reasonable to suppose
that approximately this rate of in
crease will continue for some years,
and that the gasoline tax will in
crease in the same ratio.
The Auditor estimates that the mill
tax will increase at the rate of $751;
900 year. Assuming a gasoline tax
pf 2c there will no <1vailaa,1n for con-