The planned 12-cent-per-litre fuel excise increase from January 2027 has been cancelled, with equivalent road user charge increases also postponed, Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Transport Minister Chris Bishop announced.
Instead, fuel excise will rise by 5 cents a litre from January 2028, followed by three further 5-cent increases at six-month intervals before annual 5-cent increases resume in 2030, with road user charges increasing on the same schedule.
Ministers said the delay would provide cost-of-living relief while ensuring sufficient funding for roads and transport infrastructure, where project costs have risen substantially since 2020.
The National Land Transport Fund will receive additional funding to compensate for lost excise revenue, at an estimated cost of $1.476 billion over the forecast period, partly covered by a $450 million fuel response contingency established in Budget 2026.
Image credit: Engin Akyurt
Your psyops don’t fool me New Zealand Company Church Parliament, a for profit Foreign Corporation.
Fake generosity from the fake democracy party politics politicians.
Doesn’t stack up and a costly mistake
Why should somebody who uses their car maybe twice a week to go into town and back say 20km’s
be paying the same petrol tax as others doing a vastly more lot of k’s
The system is out of date ill conceived half hatched and concocted with little thought being applied historic
Typical to be expected brain dead applied philosophies or lack of
Definitely an election year sweetener for a party in dire straights with as much integrity as the escape hatch on an Irish submarine floundering on the pinnacle of broken promises lack of charisma and poor track record of failing to deliver
You can see why anybody with a brain steers well clear of politics and giving it a wide berth