Written by Admin | October 29, 2014
This week Auckland Council presented two options for raising additional funding for land transport projects - introducing user-charges to use the motorway network, or increasing rates and fuel taxes. NZIER welcomes the opportunity to publicly debate road pricing. We see user-charges as the most effective tool to change behaviour and target the problems that need solving. While spreading the costs through taxes and/or rates may be a path of relatively less resistance, it is less helpful for relieving pressure on expensive and overused road networks.