Govt refusal to allow regional petrol tax slammed

Thursday, 16 February 2017, 5:16 pm
Press Release: Generation Zero

Thursday 16 February

Generation Zero slams government's refusal to allow regional petrol tax

Generation Zero is disappointed that the Government refuses to allow Auckland to address its transport funding deficit.

Today it was announced Auckland Council would not be able to implement a regional fuel tax to fund its transport budget as Mayor Goff had hoped.

“We currently have a $400m a year gap in transport funding, and central government are taking options off the table for Auckland to fill it” says Auckland Director Leroy Beckett.

“By refusing to adequately fund public transport projects, and limiting alternative funding options, central government is dooming Aucklanders to large rates increases and unending traffic.”

“The government’s motorway building binge has emptied the transport funding pool without solving our transport woes. We now need extra funding to build desperately needed rapid public transport projects that will actually reduce congestion. A regional fuel tax would be a quick efficient way to raise the funding.”

Work undertaken in 2009 by the government showed that a 1 cent petrol tax rise across the Auckland region would raise $12 million a year, so a 7 cents per litre petrol tax could conservatively raise $84 million per annum.

“In our 2014 Fix Our City report on the long term plan we advocated for a regional fuel tax of 5 cents per litre starting in 2016 as the easiest way to raise funds, while investigating a congestion charge in the 2020s that deals adequately with issues of equity.”

ENDS

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