Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
Government Needs To Cut The Cost Of Getting From A To B
FRIDAY 30 AUGUST 2024
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has recently announced that the Government aims to replace the Fuel Excise Duty (FED) by 2027 for petrol vehicles by shifting them on to the Road User Charge (RUC). This comes off the back of a series of other transport-related announcements, related to tolling, congestion charges and fines.
Commenting on these announcements, Taxpayers’ Union Communications Officer, Alex Emes, said:
“If you use a road, you should pay for that road. Moving towards a user-pays model by shifting petrol cars onto the RUC would be a step in the right direction.
“But Kiwi drivers already pay well over the odds to use our crumbling roads. Sneaking in more road taxes by the backdoor isn’t the answer. When Minister Brown talks about using revenue-raising congestion charges to fill their coffers, that’s exactly what they’re proposing.
“The National Land Transport Fund has been used to fund political pet projects like light rail or cycleways for far too long. It’s time to get back to spending that money on roads instead of ramping up the cost of going A to B.”
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