The Daily Alaska empire., 1949-02-19
BOTH BILLS
 V0TED DOWN
 BY SENATE
Motor Fuels Tax Remains al Two Cenfs-Sed Are
 Free 10 Sail Boats
By BOB DeARMoND

| legislative session was seen yester- day afternoon in the Senate, where the Rest in Peace" sign was placed 1 upon two revenue meastre--the iaotor fuels tax increase and the rail boat tax.
 The lethal roll calls came after sne Senate had approved two ma- 1 jor tax bills in two days the fish !; trap increase and the general prop erty tax
 i Senator Barr's bill to increase motor fuels tax levies to four cents 2 gallon was defeated by 5-1l vote, cnly the four Third Division senators appearing in the yea" column with Senator Barr. The margin was narrower when jthe vote came On the sail boat tax, which went down 7-9 on the final vote.
 In his opening statement on his 1 hill, Senator Barr said that while :. it provided for refund to muni- 1 cipalities of one cent ger gallon of the revenues collected fer the road fund within the municipalities, he iaad received several requests that he refund be made two cents per gallon or half of the revenues so Itollected
 He said he was willing to con- lprcmise on one and half cents !, and moved to put the bill back into second reading to make the amendment, but fa'sc 10 secure the necessary suspensic, CT the rules. 1 Roads, Airfields Needed l At length and in detail Senatcr Barr recited the need for roads and airfields throughout the Territory land read, in support of his state Ir1ents, considerable qutntity of iletters requesting the construction of such facilities.
 <, Larger and safer airports would !enabie the use of larger planes and Ia consequent cutting of freight iiates to the mines and other out lying localities.
 1 He gave several specific examples uf landing fields, at mines and small communities, that are too small or otherwise unsafe for use iexcept by small planes. l Average cost of good gravel roads is $30.000 mile, Senator Barr said. Rural roads without gravel surfac- ing cost $25,000 mile. He estimated that only Is to 28 miles of new road could be built leach year out of motor fuel tax revenues, but felt that even that IS worth while.
 Open Farm Lands
 Short branch roads in many ,places would open desirable farm Hands to settlement, the Senator aid. And they would be settled
 mmediatly."
 Senator Howard Lyng thought, on the other hand, that the Terri- tory is doing well enough under the present fuel tax Act.
 The bill was originally passed in il945 he recalled, and in 1947 the late was doubled Now we want to lquadruple it, like we did the fish ltrap tax. We ought to proceed little more slowly" he warned | That statement brought a chorus of approval from several of his colleagues.
 Upheaval Coming
 There will be an upheaval among ;the people if we pile on many imore taxes Senator Nerland cau- ltioned.
 The income tax and fish trap tax and property tax are about Ienough," Senator Edward Ander- son joined in. Its about time to Isluw down."
 1 Senator Lyng mentioned long.
 range, $35.000,000 Federal road. building program in the Territory.
 We have had long-range pro- gram of doing nothing for years; it's about time we got in and did something" Senator Barr retorted. | Senator John Butrovich objected to the bill not only because of the tax increase but because it may ;uin perfectly good Act"
 "The mechanics of this bill is very bad,' he said, claiming that there would be entirely too much bookkeeping involved in the three separate funds-roads. airports and water facilities-set up by the mea- sure.