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Show MITO LICENSES ! BUILDING ROADS Extent to which the motorists of Utah, including operators of passenger I cars, auto trucks and motorcycles, contribute to the building of good roads in the state is a matter not gen- j erally realized and only to be grasp 1 by reference to the flcures on file in I tho offices of the state treasurer ami ' state auditor. For the current flscnl ! year, up to July 30. 1919, the fees paid to the state in tho motor vehicle regis- i tration fund amounted to $267,027 $6 Comparison of these figures with the I record of the entire fiscal year ot 1918 furnished striking evidence of tho rapidity with which the use of motor j vehicles Is growing in Utah. For 1918 the total receipts of the motor vehicle registration fund amounted ts 1243,429.97, or $23,597.58 less than the receipts ior the current year, witn four months yet to run before the books for 1919 are closed Figures on file In the office of the state treasurer show that in Utah licenses are now in effect for 37,38a I automobiles, 4S0O commercial trucks, 1120 motorcycles and 1005 chauffeurs. The license fee for autos varies from ! $6 to $16 per year, according to seat- j ing capacity of the car. on trucks from $10 to $75, according to the tonnage ton-nage capacity of the vehicle; each! motorcycle requires a fee of $3 and j each chauffeur must pay a fee. It will be remembered that in 1917 I the Utah legislature authorized the Issuance of $2,000,000 road bonds, to be refunded at the rate of $100,000 an-nnally. an-nnally. The interest on these bonds, at 4 1-2 per cent, amounts to $90,000 per year, and motor vehicle registration registra-tion fund is taking care of this entire obligation, as well as the cost of administering ad-ministering the motor vehicle department depart-ment by ;he secretary of state-In state-In addition to this, the 1919 legislature legis-lature authorized the issuance of $4.-000,000 $4.-000,000 in road bonds, to start running in 1920, to be likewise cared for through the receipts from the motor vehicle registration fund, so far as its capacity permits. Thus it is clearly-evident clearly-evident that the lawmakers of the state not only realized the revenue -producing power of the motor vehicles in the state at tho present time, but proceeded with rhe assurance that the constantly increasing use of motors would keep the fund steadily growing In 191S the state of Utah expendei for highways 2.7 per cent of its total disbursements of $8,523,608.78. Three and seven-tenths per cent of the entire en-tire revenue of the state was derived de-rived from the motor vehicle licenses, nearly as much as came from the inheritance in-heritance tax (4.7 per cent) or from the fees of state officers (4.8 per cent). With the number of automo- I biles for pleasure and business use inereainrr at a rate that keens vlr I tually all the show rooms of the auto i dealers in the state empty most of the time, and with tho demand for the commercial truck overtaxing tho capacity of every truck factory in the country, it would seem a safe conclusion con-clusion that within the next two years Utah's motor license fees will tk9 precedence over most of the state'j sources of revenue. Salt Lake Tribune. rvn . - |