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Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and National MP Brown made the announcement in Parnell this afternoon, saying the tax was not being used to fund projects that met the Government’s and mayor Brown’s transport priorities.
But the mayor has expressed concern Aucklanders will miss out on major road and public transport improvements because of the fuel tax cancellation.
Wayne Brown said the Government had been advised there would be about $350 million of unspent money held in reserve when the scheme ends on July 1.
Speaking to Newstalk ZB’s Heather du Plessis-Allan on Thursday evening, Brown said there is enough money at the moment to finish the next stage of the Eastern Busway and fund the purchase of electric rail units for the City Rail Link (CRL), but that’s it.
“We want to decide what goes in Auckland. This is my city, not theirs,” he said.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Transport Minister Simeon Brown announce the Auckland regional fuel tax is to be scrapped. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
Brown said the cancellation would leave a shortfall in transport funding for Auckland of $1.2 billion over the next four years.
The Auckland Mayor said he and the Transport Minister have got “a bit of an argy-bargy” coming up because the Government want to build motorways in Auckland that “we don’t want”, such as an east-west motorway.
“If we’re going to have less money, then we’ll be doing less things and if they’re going to fund things we don’t want, it’ll be at the expense of something else we might want”.
He acknowledged the National Party campaigned to repeal the fuel tax, but this decision will have unintended consequences unless the Government is prepared to foot the bill for upcoming transport projects.
Brown said he didn’t sign up for Auckland’s $5.5b CRL and added that it was $1b over cost, largely due to “incompetent Wellington people who signed a dumb contract”.
“We’ve got it now, we’ve got to finish that and that’s fair enough,” he said.
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown. Photo / Dean Purcell
He added the Government wants an improved busway out to the Auckland Airport, but that’s “not going to happen” with the fuel tax money.
“The money’s got to come from somewhere, we can’t just magic it up,” he said.
He said he was happy to have a tough time working with the Government to cut out things that are not necessary, but said he wouldn’t let them tell him what motorways to build with money that could be used for other projects.
“Since July 1, 2018, Aucklanders have faced an additional 11.5 cents per litre tax on fuel, over and above what the rest of the country pays, increasing the cost of living at a time when they can least afford it. Ending this tax is one way to reduce the price of fuel and ease some of the financial pressure facing households in our largest city,” he said.
“Removing this extra tax of 11.5 cents per litre on petrol and diesel means the driver of a Toyota Hilux will save around $9.20 every time they fill up, while a Toyota Corolla driver will save around $5.75.
“Fuel tax is becoming an increasingly regressive form of taxation and costs people on lower incomes with less fuel-efficient vehicles more than those who have newer more fuel-efficient vehicles. We intend to fully remove the legislative framework for regional fuel taxes.”
The Government was also committed to passing legislation allowing “time-of-use” or congestion charging to be introduced in Auckland “to ensure more reliable journey times for Aucklanders”.
National campaigned on a large and costly package of transport investment, promising to spend $24.8b on transport infrastructure over the decade, including $17.3b on building 13 new roads of national significance.
Benjamin Plummer is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He has worked for the Herald since 2022.
