No Buggerising Around & Other Key Lies

[Maccachic]

What about petrol boats? Ireland has green diesel for non road using vehicles, they do test tanks apparently and its a fine if caught with green in your car tank.

[Davo36]

The reasons I don't like it are:

1) It was not flagged ahead of time. It was just put in. No voting on this one. Just arbitrarily raising taxes when you're supposed to be a right wing government is not on. This is socialist BS that I expect from Labour.

2) The government collects a lot in fuel taxes. Most of it does not get spent on roads or transport. It goes into the consolidated fund and just gets spent on whatever. So the justification of having to raise fuel tax to pay for the roads is BS, they could actually just use the money they already collect.

3) What happens when the money has been collected and the roads built? Will they lower the fuel excise tax by 9c a litre? Or is this a one way ratchet? I bet they just keep collecting this increased tax forever.

[speights boy]

The reasons I like it are:

1) A LOT more notice than normal.
Last increase was in June for implementation two months later.
July next year followed by two more years seems pretty good notice to me.

2) This is a targeted tax for spending, however it spreads its receiving net very wide.
The National Land Transport Fund is contributing up to $50m to repairing Canterbury Roads for example.
Other Tax take is down on forecast; money for roads would come from other budgets if not raised this way.

3) Hopefully it will remain as there will always be transport uses for this excise....even if it is under a harbour somewhere.

[TheLiberalLeft]

Yeah, I'm stung for road tax in the petrol I buy for the outboard. I have a good mind to buy a Sealegs and tootle about all day on the road, just to prove my point.

[Perry]

It's such a shame that employees can't be made to work harder the way
taxpayers can be taxed harder.

That's the beauty of excises such as this; it doesn't require you
to be taxpayer before having to pay it.

And just who would fit in that category? Even
foreign tourists pay GST when in NZ. Shonkey
was after them (mainly) with the last increase.

Tax can be legally minimised, but I suspect that
there is almost no one in NZ who would not be
a taxpayer in one way or another.

[speights boy]

Even
foreign tourists pay GST when in NZ.

Sure they effectively pay it; however legally they are not the NZ taxpayer, the merchant or the provider of the service is.

The foreign tourist pays the retailer ( for example) an extra amount, and then the retailer (NZ taxpayer) is obligated to pay the IRD.

Same principle with fuel excise.

[Perry]

I suspect that I beg to differ.

The retailer (or gas station proprietor) would
be an unpaid tax collector, as I see things.

But then twisting words and laws is second
nature to the tax-hungry, of all ilks.

[flyernzl]

Interesting how everybody is ignoring the flow-on effects of a fuel tax and associated road user charge increase on the price of all goods and services throughout the country.

[Perry]

. . . which will increase the GST take, too.
The W'gton woodenheads aren't all silly all
of the time.