PM makes staggering mistake on fuel tax impact

The Prime Minister has got her fuel tax numbers badly wrong, showing she doesn’t even know how much her Government’s additional taxes are costing New Zealanders, National Party Leader Simon Bridges says.

“When trying to defend the impact of her Government’s taxes on rising petrol prices, the Prime Minister claimed that additional taxes accounted for only 6.8 cents per litre of the rise in petrol prices in the past year. This is false.

“Staggeringly, this figure left out both the Government’s excise tax increase of 4 cents per litre and the Auckland Regional Fuel Tax of 11.5 cents per litre. In fact, the 6.8 cents the Prime Minister referred to only includes GST and an ETS change.

“The actual increase in taxes is over 10 cents per litre outside Auckland and more than 20 cents in Auckland – almost three times as much as the Prime Minister claimed.

“The increase in petrol taxes under this Government is costing New Zealand families $200 a year on average – and $324 a year for Auckland households.

“How can the Prime Minister claim to understand the impact her policies are having on New Zealanders when she doesn’t have her numbers right?

“The Prime Minister has been trying to blame fuel companies but a key driver of petrol prices is her Government’s higher taxes.

“This isn’t the first time she’s got it so wrong – just a few weeks ago it was GDP and now fuel taxes.

“It’s easy for the Prime Minister to make good on her comments and to provide some relief to New Zealanders - she just needs to cancel the excise tax and the regional fuel tax she conveniently left out of her figures.”

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