'We are literally bracing ourselves': D-Day for Auckland Regional Fuel Tax

Wednesday, 30 May 2018

A vote on Auckland's Regional Fuel tax will take place Thursday morning.

Aucklanders are bracing themselves for a council vote on New Zealand's first regional fuel tax.

Auckland Council will officially vote on a Regional Fuel Tax (RFT) of 11.5 per cent on Thursday morning that will expire in 10 years and apply to Auckland commuters from July 1.

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff and Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced a $28 billion transport programme in April.

If the proposal is not passed, rates on property owners would need to rise by up to 11 per cent, on top of existing rates increases, to fill the funding gap according to advice presented to councillors.

The tax will raise $1.5 billion over 10 years, allowing the council leverage to invest $2.8b into the $28b Auckland Transport Alignment Project (ATAP), the majority of which will be spent upgrading the city's rail and bus networks.

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The council vote comes at the end of a public consultation process where 51 per cent of all submitters said they opposed the tax and 42 per cent in favour, with stark differences in opinion across suburbs.

Some 67 per cent of submitters from the Waitematā local board area made submissions in favour of an RFT but only 36 per cent of submitters from Upper Harbour did the same.

Many submitting on both sides of the argument had noted the impact the tax would have on low-income families who tended to live further out from the CBD in centres with poor public transport links.

A written resolution from Māngere-Ōtāhuhu local board noted that the majority of submitters from the area were in favour of a regional fuel tax but had also asked for better public transport subsidies.

'Most of our families live tough, and we are literally bracing ourselves for the implications of the looming regional fuel tax to hit our pockets!'

'It is important therefore that public transport is cheaper and easier to access.

'This must be a joint approach between Auckland Transport and central government.'

Road Transport Forum Chief Executive Ken Shirley and the Automobile Association have both warned the impact of the regional fuel tax could spread well beyond Auckland's borders.

Fuel companies often sought to offset price increases in the competitive markets by raising prices in other regions with less competition they warned.

An internal email from BP leaked in May showed the manager of a petrol station at an Ōtaki BP station had asked for prices to be raised at other lower North Island petrol stations to compensate for large discounting in the area.

The Land Transport (Regional Fuel Tax) Amendment Bill is currently before parliament and is expected to pass its final reading in June.

It will allow any region to apply for permission to levy a regional fuel tax, but the government has said Auckland will be the only region approved to levy a regional fuel tax until the next central government election.

National Party leader Simon Bridges indicated in April that his party would repeal the Regional Fuel Tax if elected into government.

'The tax is not needed, the enforcement is complicated, and it will hit you in the back pocket,' Bridges said.