Auckland Council approves regional fuel tax

Thursday, 31 May 2018

The Auckland Regional Fuel Tax kicked in on July 1, 2018 (video first published in May 2018).

Auckland Council has voted in favour of introducing a regional fuel tax.

The council on Thursday voted in a Regional Fuel Tax (RFT) of 11.5 cents per litre, 13 votes in favour and seven against.

The tax will expire in 10 years and apply to Auckland commuters from July 1.

Mayor Phil Goff said the fuel tax was needed to fund transport projects across the city.

The vote was made before discussions about and a vote on Auckland Council's 10-year budget plan.

* Transport and environment big winners in Auckland 10-year budget

* What you need to know about the $28b Auckland Transport Alignment Project**

The tax will raise $1.5 billion over 10 years, allowing the council leverage through both extra borrowing and matching government funds to invest $4.3b into the $28b Auckland Transport Alignment Project (ATAP), the majority of which will be spent upgrading the city's rail and bus networks.

Discussions on Thursday centred around large amounts of spending that would be unlocked by the tax and its financial impact on the poorest residents of the city.

Councillor Efeso Collins said he had received extensive lobbying both through phone calls and approaches to him personally on the '26th floor' and he had struggled long and hard with the decision.

Collins tweeted before the meeting about a personal approach made by a member of Mayor Phil Goff's staff for his position on the fuel tax, with him responding by saying the staff member should 'get lost'.

'This is taking food off people's tables.

'Our people have been paying our rates and they never, never push back.'

'Well it's time to push back.'

The debate saw Goff make personal pleas to individual councillors, citing transport projects in their wards that would be made possible through the Regional Fuel Tax.

'If we don't have this it won't even be business as usual,' Goff said.

'Our city would grind to a halt.'

Goff said voting against a regional fuel tax to benefit 'a fraction' of Auckland road users who were on low incomes was not the way to help those same residents, and others around Auckland, struggling with transportation costs and gridlock.

Councillor Daniel Newman from the Manurewa-Papakura ward said the Regional Fuel Tax was a 'wholesale redistribution of wealth' from some of the poorest residents of Auckland with the fewest choices to those with the highest incomes and the most choice

Councillor Alf Filipaina, who represents the Manukau ward with Collins, acknowledged members of the Pacific community and others in his community were almost unanimous in their opposition to the tax.

'They can't see the benefits, they really can't.'

Filipaina said private transportation was the only real option for many of his constituents to take their kids to school and travel to work.

He said he was 'struggling' with the decision but voted for it because it was good for the Auckland region as a whole.

Goff also dismissed suggestions that the money could be raised through a 14 per cent rates increase or a congestion charge.

Auckland Council did not currently have the technology needed to administer a congestion charge in a similar way to Singapore, Goff said.

Councillor Chris Darby from the North Shore Ward said the majority of Aucklanders were in favour of paying more at the pump in exchange for big improvements in the city's transportation network.

'This regional fuel tax it allows us to shift gears in a way not seen in Auckland ever before.'

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.

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.

*How they voted:

For: Phil Goff, Bill Cashmore, Josephine Bartley, Cathy Casey, Ross Clow, Linda Cooper, Chris Darby, Alf Filipiana, Christine Fletcher, Richard Hills, Penny Hulse, Wayne Walker, John Watson.

Against: Fa'anana Efeso Collins, Mike Lee, Daniel Newman, Greg Sayers, Desley Simpson, Sharon Stewart, Sir John Walker.