2018: Auckland Regional Fuel Tax
February 18, 2022
By AHNZ
On 1 July 2018 the Phil Goff Mayoralty of Auckland instituted a Regional Fuel Tax (RTF) set to last until 30 June 2028. This currently means a tax of 10c per litre which is in turn taxed as GST by the central government in Wellington. In other words, it’s another $1.15 government steals from you every time you buy 10L of fuel.How did Phil get away with it? Legislatively speaking, the Land Transport Management Act (2003) created provision for this special tax by defining a region as one giant toll road. Only politicians would think of a way to take a 1D concept like a toll road and make it into a 3D concept of a tax for being in a location! This was done by Labour 5.0 in which Goff was a prominent Minister.
In 2013 National 5.0 repealed the Act’s regional fuel tax provisions. However, Labour 6.0 repealed the repeal and put the RFT back in again just in time as a sort of going away present (or political trade) for Goff leaving Labour’s leadership and parliament and becoming Auckland’s Mayor.
If you’re going up to Auckland I suggest you do as I do and fill your tank at Hampton Downs before entering Auckland Council’s pick-pocketing toll plane. In 2022 Goff decided not to contest Auckland’s municipal election of that year. Yielding political posts like this is as much a commodity as was giving up his Labour Party role or electorate seat but it remains to be seen what he has traded/sold it in exchange for. Probably titles and a posting in Washington or London.
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Image ref. Rod Emmerson, NZ Herald (2018)
Image ref. Rod Emmerson, NZ Herald (2018)
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