EMA wants petrol tax increase deferred

EMA wants petrol tax increase deferred

EMA Central welcomes the Government's commitment to increase expenditure on New Zealand roads, announced in a new Government package today.

"We regret however, the Government's decision to again tax motorists at the petrol pump to increase its roading budget, when only 25% of the current petrol tax-take is currently spent on roads", said Paul Winter, CEO of the Employers and Manufacturers Association (Central).

"Today's 5 cents per litre petrol tax increase comes on top of a 4.6 cents per litre increase levied earlier this year. Government and its agency Transfund have clearly been collecting a lot more funds from this revenue source."

"We think most New Zealanders will be surprised to learn that Transfund, who manage the funding of roads in New Zealand, have been unable to allocate $226 million of the money they have already been given."

"One reason why Transfund is sitting on a big pot of unallocated money is the huge delay with roading projects because they can't gain resource consent fast enough. The frustration from the delays caused by the current Resource Management Act has still not been addressed."

"We suggest the implementation date for this latest petrol tax increase should be deferred, at least until Transfund can confirm that funding from existing taxes will be inadequate to meet roading demands."

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