Evening star., 1932-03-31
i. 5. GROUPS TO GET
TRUCK TAX APPEAL
FROM D. c. OWNERS
Motor Vehicle Association
Seeking Nationwide
Aid in Fight.
DANGER OF PRECEDENT
SEEN IN D. c. MEASURE
Mapes Weight Tax and Increased
Levy on Gasoline Held Spur
for Action Elsewhere.

The Commercial Motor Vehicle Own
ers' Association today went forward
with plan to enlist support nationally
in the fight against the proposed truck
taxation program for the District.
Meeting last night in the Chamber
of Commerce OF the United States. the
association decided to have its individ-
ual members, representing some two
score lines of commercial activity, seek
to bring the influence of the national
trade groups with which they are aff1l-
lated to bear on Congress in opposi
ton to the tax plan, on which hearings
start April 5.
The suggestion for action through the
trade groups came from William E.
Humphreys. president of the Jacobs
Transfer Co. At the instance then of
Paul B. Lum, manager of the local
branch of the Autocar Co., it was de-
cided also to appeal to Chambers of
Commerce and similar organizations
throughout the country for their aid.
Cite Danger of Precedent.
The local group contends that an un-
desirable precedent in municipal taxa
ton would be set by the District taxing
program; that it would pave the way
for similar levies in other cities, and
consequently it is to the interest of
others to work against it.
The action followed report from a
Special Committee headed by Edward
Costigan, which has formulated the line
of arguments that will be presented by
the trucking interests at the Senate
hearings, with Jerome Fanciulli, the
secretary, acting as spokesman.
Declaring that the association will
keep in mind that the weight tax and
av@ Nf
eral plan to upset the present fiscal re-
lations between the Federal Govern
ment and the District" the report out
lined the stand to be taken as follows:
we will take the position that the
Mapes weight tax bill or the taxes rec
commended by the Bureau of Efficiency
and the increase in the gasoline tax will
place direct burden on the owners of
motor vehicles which would produce
more revenue than is required for the
entire street construction and main
tenance program.
Question Fairness.
1--WE will contend that any addition
whatever to the direct tax now imposed
on motor vehicle owners will be an un-
fair distribution of the cost of building
and maintaining streets as compared
with the benefits to the public and the
responsibility and obligation of the Fed
eral and District Governments.
We will contend that the direct tax
on motor vehicle owners for street con-
struction and maintenance is now
greater in the city of Washington than
in any city in the country and that any
weight tax whatsoever assessed against
the motor vehicle owners of the District
would establish precedent for such
tax as a city tax.
-.
ample to the country would certainly
encourage municipalities in every State
to follow their example.
There are several features of this
MapeS proposal which violates the spirit
OF the Constitution if they are not
actually unconstitutional and this will
be brought to the attention of the Sen
ate Committee"
The association also made preliminary
plans last night for truck safety cam
paign, which will have as its principal
purpose the reduction of accidents to
bring about lower liabilitv rates. A
special committee will be formed to ar
range this. One of the ideas behind
this move to weed out reckless drivers.
Virginia Code Explained.
The operation of the new Virginia
Code into which is written complete
motor reciprocity for the District was
explained by Fanciulli.
The members also were advised of
meeting to be held in the Offices at the
Chestnut Farms Dairy at $3.50 o'clock
this afternoon to study the situation
growing out of the threat of Maryland
highway authorities to begin making
arrests Monday when trucks from other
States are found operating in Maryland
without conforming to the common
carrier tax law, which now is to be in
voked generally.