Auckland cannot tax itself into prosperity

Sunday, 7 September 2025

A number of Auckland councillors have their hearts set on a “bed tax” that would charge short-stay visitors in the city, writes Sam Warren.

Sam Warren is a spokesperson with the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance and local government campaigns manager for the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

OPINION: Auckland is not well. Beneath its malaise is a slurry of unfinished projects, orange road cones, and stubbornly high living costs. Meanwhile, locals are choosing to stay home, more disengaged than ever.

Hoping to pull us out of this rut, mayor Wayne Brown and a number of Auckland councillors have their hearts set on a “bed tax” that would charge short-stay visitors in the city and funnel the money into large-scale events.

While any hope of improving the city is not misguided, the course of action we choose remains contentious. The idea of taxing ourselves into prosperity has always been an intrinsically hard sell, and the more the Auckland Council gets itself involved, the worse things seem to get.

While other cities in other parts of the world, like Europe, have similar taxes, the truth is, we are not in Europe. Attracting foreigners to our corner of the world has always been tough, even without adding further costs on top.

Sam Warren: “Despite itself, Auckland is a city of immense potential that is desperate to be realised.”

As we are already competing for tourists with the rest of the world, we need to do everything to make it easier for visitors, not build more barriers.

The Auckland Council needs to put more work into getting out of the way for households and businesses. Prioritising efficiency, core services and keeping rates low is a solution, and was exactly the platform Brown stood on when he won the mayoralty in 2022.

Since then, he has done excellent work in reforming notoriously wasteful council-controlled organisations like Eke Panuku and Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, who spent vast amounts of ratepayer money with very little to show for it.

But the work is not done. The Auckland Council and indeed Auckland Transport continue to be extremely inefficient and bloated. While the mayor seeks access to new revenue through a bed tax, the answer already exists in the council’s own spending decisions. How it chooses to prioritise where it puts ratepayer money, and where it finds savings, determines its ability to host world-class events and stimulate growth.

Revenue makes a lot more sense once expenditure is resolved, and while most households across Auckland have tightened their belts in recent years, the Auckland Council has added almost $300 million extra, on top of its existing revenue, this year alone.

Ultimately, the power to allow councils to introduce new taxes sits with central government. Despite the mayor’s ongoing calls, the prime minister has reiterated his position that the Government is not interested in giving councils more taxing power in this space, and is not seeking to do so in the future.

Despite itself, Auckland is a city of immense potential that is desperate to be realised.

The question remains, though: is the solution to its problems in building higher barriers and more costs, or is it better spending and less council interference with how Aucklanders live?