Skip to main content

Story: Taxes

Motor taxation pamphlet

This pamphlet put out by the Automobile Association in 1935 protests against the ‘George & Gordon Garage’ – the coalition government of George Forbes (prime minister) and Gordon Coates (minister of public works and minister of transport). It makes the point that 75% of petrol tax goes into general funds and that tax is three times the landed cost of petrol.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: Eph-B-PETROL-1935-01

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Paul Goldsmith, Taxes – War, depression and increased taxes – 1914 to 1935, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/interactive/21538/motor-taxation-pamphlet (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Paul Goldsmith, published 27 October 2009, updated 2 September 2016.