Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-15
w YITH 81 States having in
M creased their gasoline
Wv taxes within the past Ii


time in the same period, the at
tention of the motor world Is TO-
cused on the experiment now
being made in road financing by
the State of Missouri, which is a
step in the direction of relieving
motorists of their tax burden
through stabilizing the tax at the
2-cent rate for the next 10 years
through constitutional amend
ment. ,t
with this sterilization of the
gasoline tax rate, the State of
Missouri also has set the limit for
motor vehicle license fees at
1920.
This legislation goes even
farther and sets forth the stipula-
ton that all motor revenues re-
ceived through it are to be spent
exclusively for highway purposes.
Carries by 10000 Votes.
The amendment, in it's passage,
carried by a majority of 10000
when it was voted on by the State,
an impressive figure when it is re-
garded that many of the States of
the Union still are struggling to
pull themselves out of the rutS
and mudholes of the days of the
horse and buggy.
The road engineers and experts
of Missouri claim that the present
revenues for road purposes in the
State not only will take care of
the needs of the State at present.
but will be sufficient to finance
and complete unified State road
system and take care of the neces-
Sary additions of the future.
The figures are furnished by the
American Automobile Association
as a warning to those Legislators
and politicians of the country who
seek to disregard the rights of mo-
florists as a class of citizens and
make them the object of almost
unlimited taxation"
Pennsylvania, according to the
A. A. A., plans to cut its gas tax
from 4 to cents, effective July /,
1880, but this State and Missouri,
the association claims, stand in
marked contrast to the other
States of the Union. 's@.
Three Impose Scent Levy.
"There is no more pointed ex-
ample of the way in which the tax
burden on the car owner is being
pushed to the limit" says the as
ISOLATION, "than in the field of the
gas tau. Ten years ago only three
States had gas tax of l cent a
gallon, while today 3 States,
namely, Florida, South Carolina
and Georgia, impose a levy Of 6
cents, per gallon; States have
scent tax, 20 have a Accent tax,
9 collect 3 cents a gallon, z States
and the District of Columbia levy
2 cents gallon, and the tax in
Utah is 312 cents a gallon"
The national motoring body
points out that 81 per cent of the
funds used for building State
highways now comes from motor
vehicle license fees and revenue
from the gasoline tax, although
none will deny that improved
highways increase property values,
as well as make for general pros
perity. The statement continues:
1.-The Missouri plan was origi-
mated by the Automobile Club of
Missouri, an A. A. A. unit, and In
the campaign it secured the sup
port of prominent men, other civic
Organizations and the press of the
State.
although the gasoline tax has
been made the center in the drive
on the part of the States for in
creased revenue, increases in mo-
tor vehicle license fees RlSo have
been to the forefront. While not
as pronounced as the raise in gas
tax rates, it is a situation also de-
serving of attention on the part
of legislators.
People Are Commended.
'The people of Missouri have
won wide commentator for the
aggressive way In which they
went to the polls and curbed the
taxes on car owners. When it is
considered that the motorists of
the country paid $668, 100000 in
special motor vehicle tax levies in
1928, aside from at least $40, 000,-
900 in personal property taxes, it
can readily be seen why car
owners of the country have CEN
tered their eyes on the progress
sive step taken in Missouri"
The fourth year of street safety
instruction for the school children
Of the District starts in few days
now in the District and surround
ing territory, under the auspices
of the A. A. A.
A larger enrolment of the
Schoolboy Patrol is expected this
year, due to the impetus added to
the scheme through the detailing
by Maj. Henry G. Pratt, superin-
tendent of police, of one officer
from each police precinct in the
city to act as instructor and in
spector of Schoolboy Patrols in his
district.
The Schoolboy Patrols are doing
O great work in making the
younger generation of pedestrians
traffic conscious, something which
the Capital has found their
fathers and mothers to be almost
totally oblivious of. They are
teaching the school boys and girls
the necessity of pedestrian control
If vehicle traffic control is to
amount to anything.
New Poster Series.
Anew series of posters to be dis
tributed in the schools of the Dis