Fuel tax to drive new cash-saving servos
Fuel companies are eyeing up a stretch of State Highway 1 just outside Auckland to meet demand from drivers dodging the city’s new regional fuel tax.
The pot-holed length of SH1 running north 13.5km from Te Hana on Auckland’s northern border through the lush pasture lands of Topuni to Kaiwaka, location of the next fuel stop, makes for lucrative options.
Z Energy and Caltex spokesman Jonathan Hill said details of the tax were still sketchy, but clearly defined boundaries offered opportunities to build new stations.
When prices changed considerably, stations witnessed people turning up with trailerloads of jerry cans to stockpile. Some even filled milk bottles to take advantage of the savings, Hill said.
‘‘I wouldn’t be surprised if companies bore that in mind when they decided to invest.’’
Gull general manager Dave Bodger also sees the potential, but wouldn’t comment whether they would may or may not be chasing.
Auckland mayor Phil Goff has welcomed the newly approved tax, saying the city must pay its share for ’’desperately needed’’ projects, including light rail between the CBD and the airport.
But the mayor’s enthusiasm for the new tax isn’t shared by some motorists.
Bombay resident Karen Armstrong doesn’t use the motorway and rarely goes to the city.
If she did, she wouldn’t mind paying. But she didn’t see why her dollars should subsidise other drivers when the money wouldn’t be spent anywhere near her.
She would be taking her business to Tuakau, 16 minutes from her home across the border in Waikato, to avoid the tax.
At Kaiwaka Caltex in Northland, 10km past the Auckland boundary, owner Harmeet Marzara said he wasn’t expecting an influx of tax-avoiding motorists – but he might be pleasantly surprised.
At Gasoline Alley in Te Hana, which is just inside the city boundary, owner Seemanshu Jain expected the measure to have a huge impact.
He said his customers mainly travelled between regions, or were residents from nearby Northland towns looking for a lower price. ‘‘They’ll stop coming,’’ he said. Looking to the pot-holed highway, Jain questioned what benefits the fuel tax would bring to Te Hana.
Te Hana firewood dealer Phil Turner will drive 13.5km to Kaiwaka, outside the boundary.
Turner travels 1500km a day, runs a second van, and petrol-run equipment. ’’If you end up having to pay it, you’ve got to, but there are ways around it.’’
And it’s this type that has the fuel worried.
Gull general manager Dave Bodger believed truck drivers would add running tanks to increase fuel capacity, and avoid Auckland stations.
He said it was naive of the Government to expect the same volume of fuel would be sold in Auckland, and there was a real risk of a black market.
Bodger believed it was imperative the Government consulted the oil industry over the taxes collection, rebates for industries like Pukekohe’s market gardners and a policing mechanism. of thinking companies