National Needs To Come Clean On Fuel Taxes – New Zealand Labour Party

The National Party are all over the place on funding for transport, Labour Transport Spokesperson David Parker says.

“Finance spokesperson Nicola Willis said today that National will raise Fuel Excise Duty (FED) and Road User Charges (RUC) in the same financial quarter of 2024 as the Government has set out, if not sooner,” David Parker said.

“She said National would increase the tax when inflation gets back below 3 per cent. The Reserve Bank forecasts inflation will be down to 2.7% in the September 2024 quarter, which begins on 1 July 2024. That’s when the Government proposes to increase it as well to pay for new roads and mass transport options.

“She clearly knows that National’s transport plan doesn’t add up. National needs to explain to voters how much they plan to increase FED and RUC by and whether they would increase it sooner if inflation came down faster.

“National’s Transport Spokesperson Simeon Brown and Judith Collins clearly missed the memo, with both claiming that National would not increase FED and RUC over the next three years. They obviously don’t talk to each other.

“Brown also wouldn’t provide any details about where the $9.5 billion of “private financing” their plan assumes would come from. And he has failed to say how National would fill the $2.5 billion hole in their plans after they failed to adjust their costings for inflation.

“National need to front up to voters right now and stop hiding their intentions,” David Parker said.