Aucklanders' support, in opinion polls, for the new regional fuel tax has slumped since it was introduced. Photo / Duncan Brown
Aucklanders' support, in opinion polls, for the new regional fuel tax has slumped since it was introduced. Photo / Duncan Brown
Weeks after Auckland drivers were hit with an 11.5c per litre regional fuel tax, more than half of Aucklanders in a survey said the new charge was a bad idea.
Fifty-seven per cent of the small sample of Aucklanders in the poll done by research firm Ipsos disagreed with the decision to introduce the tax. This was more than double the 22 per cent who supported the tax, while 21 per cent said they didn't know or neither agreed nor disagreed.
These results mark a collapse in support since a Colmar Brunton poll, done before the tax was introduced, found 52 per cent support among Aucklanders, with 43 per cent opposed.
What Aucklanders say in the polls about the regional fuel tax Colmar Brunton (released in April, before tax introduced) • Support: 52% • Opposition: 43%
Ipsos (poll done in late July, after tax introduced) • Support: 22% • Opposed: 57%
Predictably the Ipsos poll detected much stronger support outside Auckland for the tax: just 25 per cent opposed it and 51 per cent agreed with it.
The Auckland Council imposed the tax within the region from July 1 after the Government passed legislation to permit it. It is expected to raise $1.5 billion over 10 years, but with money from state subsidies and other sources will generate a total pool of $4.3 billion for Auckland transport projects.
The online Ipsos poll of 209 Aucklanders and 402 non-Aucklanders was conducted around three weeks after the tax began. The Colmar Brunton poll was released by the council in April.
Ipsos found that, by age, Auckland support for the tax was greatest amongst those 55 or older, at 36 per cent; and least among young adults, at 9 per cent.
By household income, Aucklanders at the lower end - under $60,000 a year - expressed the greatest support for the tax, at 26 per cent; while support was lowest among those pulling in $120,000 or more, at 19 per cent.
Asked by the researchers to explain their views, one Aucklander opposed to the tax said, "Makes it really hard to afford something that is quite essential, especially as a new-grad employee."
Another suggested good Auckland transport was in the national interest: "Auckland down [equals] the rest of the country dead."
An Auckland supporter of the tax said the region's transport problems had long been sidelined, for lack of cash. "At last we have a genuine attempt to solve this."
A Manawatu-Whanganui supporter of the tax said, "It's Auckland's problem: you want to live there, don't expect the rest of the country to subsidise you."
Mayor of Auckland Phil Goff says the regional fuel tax enabled the removal of the $114 a year interim transport levy from rates bills. Photo / Nick Reed
The Mayor of Auckland, Phil Goff, said, "The default response to any new form of tax is to oppose it because none of us want to pay more for any product or service.
"At the same time, overwhelmingly people told us that doing nothing in face of Auckland's growing congestion problem was not an option and that we needed to address the years of under-investment in our transport system."
He said that without the $4.3 billion that the tax would help raise, "no new initiatives in transport would be possible and congestion would get markedly worse with population growth of over 40,000 a year".
Goff noted the strong support - around 55 per cent - in the Ipsos poll for the Government to introduce a target of zero road deaths by 2020. The tax would enable an extra $582 million to be spent in this area in the coming decade, addressing the 78 per cent increase in deaths and serious injuries on Auckland's roads in the last four years.
Barney Irvine of AA said the growth in Aucklanders' opposition to the regional fuel tax since it started is partly due to increased global fuel prices and news of national fuel tax hikes.
Automobile Association spokesman Barney Irvine said the Auckland opposition to the tax found by Ipsos was higher than in surveys of Auckland AA members.
"In our most recent survey, in March this year, 38 per cent of the 2300 respondents were opposed."
He said the difference was partly due to the later date of the Ipsos survey, meaning it would have picked up the impact of the Government's announcement of increases in the national fuel tax - on top of the Auckland tax - and global fuel price rises.
Irvine said that although AA's Auckland members were "prepared to pay a bit more to improve the transport network", the organisation wasn't keen on the tax; its predecessor, the interim transport levy, could have been increased instead.
A full assessment of the "clumsy" tax, including the administration costs and the extent of fuel companies' spreading the cost of the tax across New Zealand, couldn't be made until the first monitoring report, expected next month.
