16 DECEMBER 2019
The National Party’s proposal to replace petrol tax with congestion charges has been welcomed by the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.
Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says: “Petrol taxes aren’t just regressive – they’re unfair. Wealthy owners of electric
vehicles and hybrids get to avoid paying their fair share of tax. National’s proposal would fix this inequity.”
“And unlike petrol taxes, under a congestion charge motorists struggling with transport costs will have the option to
save money by travelling outside of peak hours. This has the positive side effect of reducing rush hour delays.”
“Replacing petrol tax with road user charges and congestion charging is in principle a good idea. However, taxpayers
need assurance that the proposal will actually reverse the new costs the current Government has introduced. It is
unfortunate that National has so far only committed to reversing the effect of the Auckland fuel tax, and not the
nation-wide tax hikes.”
ENDS