No new regional fuel taxes

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has ruled out regional fuel taxes around the country.

It comes as a fuel tax for the Wellington region was shot down by decision makers despite claims it is being discussed.

Yesterday National Party leader Simon Bridges claimed the Wellington City Council was in discussions with the Government about a regional fuel tax to fund light rail.

But both Wellington mayor Justin Lester and Transport Minister Phil Twyford dismissed the claim, saying no discussions were being had.

Yesterday afternoon, during question time, Associate Minister of Transport Shane Jones was asked if a regional fuel tax for the Wellington region would be ruled out and when was the decision made to rule out any future regional fuel taxes.

He said the law outlined what the options were and the prime minister had indicated there were no more options while she was the prime minister and there was never going to be an option over the next two years.

When the law was passed, there was never an exception in 2018, 2019, 2020 that other regions were going to be approved, he said. ‘‘She said without a swivel of doubt, while she’s prime minister there will be no future rollout of regional fuel tax .... ’’

He supported her decision and it was unlikely the Provincial Growth Fund would foot the bill to fix regional roads unless the cases were ‘‘incredibly deserving’’.

Ardern said the Opposition started spreading utterly false information contrary to legislation that prohibited the use of a regional fuel tax, and that responses in the House had been for the sake of clarity.’’

Lester and other mayors from the Wellington region went to Twyford in May eager to discuss a regional fuel tax among options to fund transport projects including regional rail and light rail.

At the time Twyford said ‘‘lots of things would be on the table’’, including a land value uplift scheme, tolling roads and congestion charges.

Yesterday, Bridges told The AM Show the council was talking with the Government about the ‘‘tram plan’’ and a fuel tax was on the cards. But Lester said while it was no secret a fuel tax was considered, it was ruled out in conversations with Twyford some time ago.

But Bridges said he had been told by a source discussions had been taking place ‘‘until very recently’’ between the Government and city council about a fuel tax. ‘‘Actually, let’s go back to what happened [Wednesday] morning – the spokesperson for the city council made it clear I was right.’’

A fuel tax could be applied for under the legislation which brought the tax in Auckland.

No application had been made for a tax in Wellington, Lester said. Other funding mechanisms for transport projects were still being weighed up.

Twyford said Wellington councils had come to him seeking the tax, but said it had been categorically ruled out by the Labour-led Government.

Light rail could be approved for Wellington within the next two years as part of an almost $4 billion plan to fix the city’s traffic congestion problems.

The plan, which aims to ease congestion between Wellington Airport and the Ngauranga Gorge, will need to be signed off by Cabinet before being released publicly later this year.

Light rail could be approved for Wellington within the next two years as part of an almost $4 billion plan.