John MacDonald: Road user charges are fairer for everyone

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald

If you drive a petrol vehicle, how’s that $20-a-week tax cut looking now that the Government wants to sting you with road user charges?

I’m being a bit facetious. Because I actually think road user charges are much fairer than fuel taxes. Because, when you use a road, it makes no difference whether you drive an old dunger or something more modern - you’re still using it.

Because with road user charges, you pay depending on how many kilometres you drive, instead of how much fuel you buy.

And if you’ve got the most fuel-efficient vehicle on the market, why should you effectively pay less to use the same road as someone who can only afford an old gas guzzler?

You shouldn’t. Which is why the Government wants owners of petrol vehicles to pay their way the same way drivers of diesel vehicles and EVs do right now - through road user charges. Which would be much fairer than a fuel tax.

Just like we pay the same amount for things like Netflix, whether we watch it on a cruddy old TV or the latest high-definition TV.

That’s what this is. User pays for our roads. And a much fairer version of user pays than what we have at the moment. Which means, if you drive a petrol vehicle, you pay a fuel tax. And, if you drive a diesel or an electric vehicle - you pay road user charges.

Before you think I’m getting too carried away, there is a caveat on my support for what the Government wants to do.

And I think this is where the people who have been screaming blue murder since the Transport Minister announced his plan are coming from. They’re saying there’s no way they’re going to pay road user charges, as well as fuel taxes.

And fair enough too. There is no way the Government could justify stinging us for both. So that’s the only caveat on me saying ‘yep, go for it’.

There’s another thing too. How realistic is all this?

For starters, Simeon Brown reckons he can have road user charges for petrol vehicles in place by 2027. Which, of course, is after the next election. So get ready for this to be an election issue in a couple of years’ time.

And, while this all looks good on paper - well, I think so anyway. While this all looks good on paper, there are other unanswered questions.

Will owners of petrol vehicles even bother paying these new road user charges? You can guarantee there will be some who won’t. Who knows how many.

How is the Government going to make sure whether people are paying them or not That’s the $3.5 million question the Government doesn’t have an answer to yet. There are 3.5 million petrol vehicles in New Zealand at the moment. Which is about three-quarters of all vehicles on the road.

And the big question: the Government has already talked about a 12 percent increase in petrol taxes in 2027 —the same year these new RUCs come into force— so what’s happening on that front?

The closest thing to an answer to that question can be found in the media statement the Transport Minister put out yesterday.

Simeon Brown says: “We are transitioning the light vehicle fleet to road user charges, and away from fuel tax, by as early as 2027.

"Transitioning to road user charges will ensure that all road users are contributing fairly to the upkeep of our roads, regardless of the vehicle they drive.”

So “transitioning away from fuel tax” is all he’s saying about that. And, for me, that’s the crucial bit.

Because, even though I think road user charges are a much fairer way of paying to use our country’s roads, it would be nothing short of a rort for the Government to charge us a petrol tax and road user charges.

Perhaps we can take comfort in the fact that with vehicles becoming more fuel-efficient, shifting to road user charges will mean the Government will get more revenue than what it’s getting now under the current way of doing things. And, on that basis, it will be more-than-happy to ditch the taxes outright.

But I’m happy to put that question aside for now. I’m happy to give the Government the benefit of the doubt. And I’m happy to say that, at this stage, I’m right behind the idea.

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