Brakes on region's fuel tax

Rangitikei district's mayor has quashed suggestions his council is among those considering a regional fuel tax, and neither is Whanganui.

Andy Watson said while his council had made a submission on the Land Transport Management (Regional Fuel Tax) Amendment Bill, it was not a signal council would move to put a fuel tax in place.

"We saw the tax as a tool that councils might like to pick up. But do we have any intention of applying a fuel tax? Not at all," Watson said.

He said all local authorities were approached and asked to submit their views on the potential tax.

"Not every council responded so I suppose in this case we've been highlighted because of our own efficiency," he said.

Mike Fermor, Whanganui District Council general manager finance, said his council was not considering a fuel tax either, and had not made a submission to Government.

Separate fuel taxes were made available under terms of the bill introduced to Parliament by Transport Minister Phil Twyford in March. It is currently before a select committee.

A Newshub story said 14 councils around the country were "considering" a regional fuel tax and that Rangitikei was one of them.

Auckland council has signalled it will be introducing a fuel tax that kicks in next month but other councils would not be able to bring their particular tax in until 2021 at the earliest. Those councils would be limited to a maximum tax of 10 cents per litre of fuel.

Watson said the tax can be used for things like major infrastructure upgrades.

"The Taihape-Napier road was one suggestion that came up in our discussions, but that's as far as it got. We don't see any immediate need to consider it (a tax) at all," he said.

"There's always a need for our council to look at all the funding options but a regional fuel tax certainly isn't one of them," Watson said.

Local Government NZ president Dave Cull said his association supported the bill but wanted the tax to be made available to all councils, not just regional ones.

AA said it saw both sides of the argument for fuel taxes which some councils would see as a means of raising revenue without extra rate rises.