Regional road tax requires consultation

Thursday, April 27th, 2007

Regional road tax requires consultation

Since it was good enough for Transit to ask Aucklanders if they wanted to pay more taxes by placing a toll on the western ring route, surely Government should also consult with Aucklanders over the proposed new 10 cents per litre road tax.

The Employers & Manufacturers chief executive Alasdair Thompson said it was a foregone conclusion that, like anyone else, Aucklanders would reject a toll. The same would be true for a regional petrol tax.

"Perversely Transit has no obligation to consult over a regional fuel tax but had to consult over tolling," Mr Thompson said.

"Though the Land Transport Management Act required Transit to consult over the introduction of a road toll, it was obvious to everyone that it's consultation process was going to achieve a negative response.

"Yet the Prime Minister said the government promised to complete the road network by 2015 if Auckland accepted a degree of tolls.

"This type of manipulation means the government is sticking Auckland with the short straw yet again.

"Neither tolls nor a new regional petrol tax is the best option to meet the motorway's $800 million shortfall; borrowing is, using some of the huge current account surplus to fund the debt servicing needed. In this way we would also achieve intergenerational equity.

"A 10 cent/litre tax on Auckland would raise up to $100m a year, which would meet only part of the shortfall and required rail electrification.

"This would be acceptable if the government was not already overtaxing us, and Aucklanders in particular; Aucklanders have been historically subsidising transport developments every where else in the country for decades.

"To fund the entire shortfall, the Auckland tax would probably need to be nearer $1 a litre which is politically and economically unacceptable, and silly.

"Yet completing the network would return at least $4 for every dollar invested in it (Allen Report), a better rate of return than Dr Cullen can hope to get anywhere.

"Government should stop messing about and commit to funding the motorway by 2015.

"It should stop hiding behind Transit and its regressive Land Transport Management Act 2003."

ENDS

© Scoop Media