Road pricing must not be used as a revenue grab

Any new revenue raised by road pricing should be offset with reductions in petrol tax, says ACT Leader David Seymour, in response to the Auckland Transport Alignment Project released today.

“Pricing can be an extraordinarily powerful way of managing the road use. It can clear roads for those who are willing to pay at rush hour by encouraging others to take less important trips off-peak," says Mr Seymour.

“ACT’s view is that the purpose of road pricing is to manage demand – not to act as an extra revenue source for central or local government. Any revenue generated by congestion charges should be offset with cuts to petrol taxes.

“If successive governments come to see road tolls as revenue sources, they’ll have a perverse incentive to adjust tolls in whatever way maximises revenue, instead of using tolls to minimise congestion.

“If the government wants more revenue, it can do it the old fashioned way – by campaigning on tax increases before the next election. Better yet, it could cut existing spending on corporate welfare and vanity projects.”

ENDS

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