Andrew Dickens: There's something dodgy about these congestion taxes

I had a lovely Saturday morning. Lying in bed, drinking a coffee, reading the weekend Herald and listening to Jack on ZB say that he’ll ditch his wallet by next year as everything he needs will be on his phone. 

I was thinking - keep up, lad. I ditched the wallet during Covid. The phone has become ubiquitous and if not the phone, then a card in a pocket in the phone.

It’s debatable whether this is a good thing considering how compromised phones are and how reliant they are on cell towers, software and power supply, but hey.

Meanwhile, on the front page of the Herald was the legislation meaning that councils could charge congestion taxes in the future. 

Now this is dodgy. The taxes will be on roads that we already paid taxes to build. And if not taxes then rates, which after all, are also taxes. Talk about double jeopardy - taxes on taxes 

And then, you have to wonder if the National-led coalition really is the tax cut party. Surely introducing a new tax is still a new tax, which is something they say is what the socialists do. 

But everyone is doing it - rates are up, water rates are up. And under this coalition, the reality is our taxes are going up. No matter what their semantics suggest. 

But they have to do it to get some cars off some roads that are so congested that they’re costing our productivity.   

The motivation for taxes has many faces - they’re used to punish the rich, they’re used to redistribute wealth, they're used to fund health and education systems and they’re used to punish or change behaviour.

So they’re trying to change our behaviour to make more of us drive off peak and less of us on peak. 

Good luck with that. Good luck with your tax. No wonder Wayne Brown said they’re not going to use the new power any time soon, he knows a vote killer when he sees one. 

But the fact that a young modern city of just over one and a half million people has got itself in a position where a centre-right Government thinks the answer is a congestion tax is a complete and utter failure of civic planning. 

Sure, I can understand congestion taxes in London, which has had centuries of development. But Auckland? Or Tauranga? Or Wellington? 

All we had to do was provide alternatives to the car that were affordable and efficient. 

But everytime public transport options and alternate modes have been suggested, they’ve been shouted down by people who think they live in rural villages and not modern cities and they should drive from doorstep to doorstep. 

Thanks for your lack of foresight - it means another tax is coming and our roads will still be chocka. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Edb Well, I had a very lovely Saturday morning yesterday.
I was lying in bed, I was drinking coffee. I
was reading the Weekend Herald because I still get the paper,
and I was listening to Jack on ZBB and he
was saying he'll ditch his wallet by next year because
everything he needs will be on his phone. And I thought,
keep up, lad. I ditched the wallet during COVID because

(00:35):
the phone has now become ubiquitous with its apps. And
if not the phone, then I've got cards in pockets
in the phone holder, and that's where I've got my
HOP card, and I've got a f poscard, and I've
got a couple of credit cards. It's all there on
the phone. There is no wallet whatsoever, because I do
not need cash. Now. Look, it's debatable whether this is

(00:55):
a good thing, considering how compromised phones are. I mean,
anyone can see what's on your phone if they want to,
and also phones are really reliant on cell towers and
sofware and powers supply. But hey, here comes the future,
and people have decided this is the way we're going
to live. Meanwhile, front page of the Herald was all
about the legislation that means that councils can charge congestion

(01:19):
taxes in the future on our roads. Now this is dodgy.
The taxes will be on roads that we already paid
taxes to build. And if the roads weren't built built
using taxes, then they were built using rates. And those,
by the way, are also taxes. So this is kind

(01:39):
of double jeopardy, isn't it. Taxes are taxes paying for
stuff we've already paid for before, and then you'd have
to start wondering. Hold on, if this is a new tax.
I thought the National leg Coalition wanted to cut all taxes,
but note this is a new tax. Something they say
is what the socialists do, but it looks like all
politicians do it. Rates are up, water rates are up

(02:01):
under this coalition. The reality is taxes are going up
no matter how they try to sell it. But they
feel they have to do it to get some cars
off the roads because the roads are so congested they're
costing our productivity. So the motivation for taxes has many faces.
Some are used to punish the rich, some are used

(02:22):
to redistribute the wealth. Some are used, of course, all
are used to fund health and education systems we rely on.
And they're also used to punish or change behavior, which
is what they're using them for. In this case, they're
trying to change our behavior to make more of us
drive off peak and less of us on peak. And
good luck with that. You do what you have to do,

(02:44):
and good luck with your tax and no wonder. Wayne
Brown said, the Council's not going to use this new
power anytime soon because he knows a vote killer when
he sees one. But the fact that a young, modern
city of just over one and a half million people
has got itself in a position where a center right
government thinks the answer is a tax is a complete

(03:07):
and utter failure of civic planning. There's only one and
a half million of us in Auckland. Sure I can
understand congestion taxes in London, which has had centuries of development,
there's no more room for roads. But Auckland or Toe
Dunger or Wellington. All we had to do to avoid
this tax was to provide alternatives to the car, alternatives

(03:29):
that were affordable and efficient. But you know it, every
time public transport options and alternate modes have been suggested.
They've been shouted down by people who think they live
in rural villages and not modern cities and feel that
they should be able to drive from doorstep to doorstep,
and believe that public transport doesn't work. Well, thank you
for that, Thank you for your lack of foresight over
the last forty or fifty years, because this now means

(03:52):
another tax is coming and our roads will still be.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
Chokker For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudken.
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