Mr. Wills Attacks Taxation
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SPFAKING at the annual general meetings of the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Co., Ltd., and B.E.T. Omnibus Services, Ltd., Mr. I S. Wills, M.Inst.T., chairman of both :ompanies, attacked the Government's axation He told "Midland Red " shareholders hat a general increase in fares throughmt the industry would be necessary if ts record of efficiency and financial tability were to remain unimpaired. Apart from the clerical cost incurred P acting as an unpaid tax gatherer inder the P.A.Y.E. system, the company vould be paying the Government, in lirect taxation alone, about £512 a year ot each bus run, as compared with :145 per bus to be distributed as lividends.
The effect of increases in the cost of naterials and of taxation would be to aise operating costs by about £1m. a ear. Consequently, for the first time in bout 30 years, the company had been °welled to apply for a general
increase in fares on stage services. These applications would be heard in Birmingham and Nottingham, this month.
Last year, Midland Red introduced 25 new services, reinstated four and increased the frequency of 173. Mileage (72m.) and the number of passengers carried (451m.) were records. During the year, the fleet was increased by 58 vehicles to a total of 1,801, using 6,800,000 gallons of fuel per year.
Addressing the shareholders of B.E.T. Omnibus Services, Ltd., Mr. Wills said he could see no reason why bus companies should now be liable to profits tax at the rate of 10 per cent., because the circumstances were no different from those which obtained when the exemption was first granted.
"Here, again, however," he added, "political expediency seems to be regarded as of greater importance than economic justification, and still another tax burden is to be loaded upon the already overtaxed industry."