New vehicle tax leaves poor on the scrapheap
The proposed penalty on ‘gas guzzling’ vehicles is a painful, regressive tax, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.
Taxpayers’ Union Executive
Director Jordan Williams says, “Let’s be very clear: this is a tax on Otara
vehicles to subsidise Teslas in Remuera.”
“Only a few, largely high-income, motorists will benefit from this subsidy,
while many more low income motorists will have to choose between a nasty
penalty or delaying the purchase of a new car. And as this tax leads driver to
hold on to their existing vehicles for longer, we’ll miss out on improvements
to safety and environmental standards.”
“Successive Governments have already whacked motorists hard with hikes to
petrol tax. Now Julie-Anne Genter is mixing it up with scheme to ‘take from the
poor, give to the rich’.”
“Just because something is shrouded in environmental branding doesn’t make it
any less nasty to the poor.”
ENDS
Source: The Taxpayers' Union