- By Simeon Brown, MP for Pakuranga
The Government recently announced they would be increasing the fees for their Ute Tax, which penalises utility and light commercial vehicle purchases to subsidise expensive EVs for the wealthy.
The fees for some of these vehicles will nearly double, forcing those who rely on them to pay even more going forward.
In most cases, there are simply no alternative vehicles that suit the needs of those like farmers and tradies, who often require heavy duty vehicles that do not have an electric or hybrid option available in New Zealand.
And what do those fees end up paying for? Expensive Teslas and similar vehicles that only the wealthy can afford in the first place.
These fee increases are a result of the overall failure of the policy so far, with more than $200 million more handed out in subsidies than has been taken in by the tax.
With New Zealand facing a cost-of-living crisis the likes of which we haven’t seen in decades, we should be focused on policies that ease the burden on those struggling the most instead of spending hundreds of millions discounting expensive vehicles.
This is just another example of Labour’s poorly-considered policy making, with hard-earned tax dollars from those struggling to get by going to the wealthy who have no problem buying a Tesla on their own.
National will axe Labour’s Ute Tax and work with the vehicle importation industry to develop sensible, long-term policies that reduce our emissions without penalising Kiwis for getting the vehicles they need.
