$8k discount on EVS

uptake of EVS. ‘‘New Zealand is actually lagging behind on the uptake of EVS, so we are playing catch-up internationally. Our monthly registrations of EVS are about half the global average and sales are well below the 50 per cent of monthly sales seen in some European countries.’’

Wood added that because the policy applied only to the import market, the market for used vehicles would not be affected.

‘‘The policy only applies to new and used cars arriving in New Zealand,

so the existing second-hand market of cars that lower income families tend to purchase from will not be affected,’’ Wood said.

Purchasers of the cars would either collect discounts or pay fees through Waka Kotahi-nz Transport Agency when they first registered their vehicles.

Buyers could collect discounts for EVS and plug-in hybrids registered after July 1. It is still possible to get a discount for a car purchased before that date but only if the buyer delays registering that car until July 1. From next year, smaller discounts for vehicles that cannot be plugged-in but which emit low amounts of carbon dioxide will be available.

The fees for high-emissions vehicles will apply from January 1, 2022. The Government has loaned itself about $300 million to get the scheme running in the interim but the fees are designed to be fiscally neutral over the long term, meaning fees on polluting vehicles pay for discounts on clean ones.

The fees and discounts may be adjusted each year to ensure the scheme stays fiscally neutral.

National and ACT MPS oppose the scheme. ACT Party leader David Seymour said it broke Labour’s promise of no new taxes beyond those in its 2020 manifesto. ‘‘Labour is breaking its promise ... by slapping new taxes on tradies, farmers and large families.’’

National Party leader Judith Collins tweeted that the policy had been ‘‘brought back from the dead ... National will fight Labour’s Car Tax every step of the way’’.