Petrol tax, road user charges up

Petrol taxes and road user charges rose yesterday – the second of the Government’s three planned increases in this term.

Petrol is up 3.5 cents a litre – about 4c when GST is included – and road user charges are up 5.5 per cent.

The rises were first announced by Transport Minister Phil Twyford in June 2018.

At the time he said they were needed ‘‘to fund the infrastructure for our cities and regions to thrive, and save lives’’.

He said the increases would cost the average family $2.50 a week by 2020.

National Party finance spokesman Paul Goldsmith said the Government was taking an extra $1.7 billion from New Zealanders over three years through fuel tax increases, road user charges, petrol excise and Auckland regional fuel tax.

‘‘Auckland motorists are most under siege. They’re being asked to pay a regional fuel tax on top of everything else,’’ Goldsmith said.

The first of the Government’s fuel tax increases came into force on October 1, 2018, and the third is due on July 1, 2020.

The Auckland regional fuel tax of 10c per litre – 11.5c with GST – started a year ago. Last October, Jacinda Ardern ruled out any new regional fuel taxes while she was prime minister.

Meanwhile, Radio New Zealand is reporting just 15.95km of a planned 198km of life-saving median barriers planned by 2021 were installed in 2018.

Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter agreed the rollout so far was too slow, but said the NZ Transport Agency now had a faster process for approving road safety projects.