$300 million from Auckland’s fuel tax unspent, Mayor says not true

Auckland’s unpopular fuel tax isn’t being spent, with the National Party revealing $300 million collected from the levy has not been used.

Since Auckland’s fuel prices increased by ten cents a litre in 2018, the council has raised $542 million.

Of that pot, over half remains unspent, which National’s transport spokesperson Simeon Brown says is an injustice to many Kiwis.

“The Government continues to take money from Aucklanders at the petrol pump,” he said.

“Why is it sitting in a bank account gathering dust?

“If the Government isn’t going to spend this tax money on transport projects, then the regional fuel tax should be scrapped to give further relief to Kiwis facing a cost of living crisis.”

However, Auckland Mayor Phil Goff tells RNZ those claims are simply not valid.

Goff insists the tax money has been committed to future projects; ergo, it has not been ‘spent’.

The biggest project in the pipeline is the Eastern Busway, which Goff says will cost hundreds of millions.

When fuel prices around the country rocketed to unseen highs earlier this month, Cabinet decided to slash the nationwide fuel tax by 25 cents for three months.

Auckland is still required to fork out additional cash to meet its regional tax, which was not exempt from the tax cut.

According to the Gaspy app, unleaded 91 prices around Auckland city are sitting between $2.70 and $2.90 a litre.

Outside the city of sails, Wellington and Hamilton’s prices are low $2.70s per litre, with Christchurch between $2.50 and $2.60 per litre.