Labour
leader Chris Hipkins has confirmed the party has done the
costings for its fuel tax policy, but it will not reveal
them until it releases its full fiscal plan.
The party
has so far disputed National’s figures, but has not revealed
its own, with Hipkins so far only saying it had “an
idea”.
He is now saying the policy has been
costed.
Labour
has committed to no increase in the fuel excise duty at
all for an entire term, if elected.
The government has
cancelled
a planned 12 cents a litre increase in January, instead
proposing to increase the tax by 5 cents every six months
between the start of 2028 through to the end of
2029.
The National Land Transport Fund will instead be
topped up to the tune of $1.5 billion, of which $450 million
will come from the ‘rainy day fund’ created in this year’s
Budget.
The rest, Transport Minister Chris Bishop has
said, would likely
come from borrowing, and without the top up there would
have to be “significant” cuts to road maintenance, public
transport, and infrastructure investment.
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Bishop has
said Labour’s policy would create a $4.6 billion shortfall,
a figure Hipkins has disputed, saying National’s figure
included costs extending beyond the next Parliamentary
term.
Last week, Hipkins said Labour
had “an idea” of the cost, but he has been unwilling to
share it, saying Labour would update its figures following
the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update.
The PREFU
is due to be released on 29 September.
On Monday,
Hipkins was again asked if Labour had done the costings, and
he replied “yes.”
He said he would set out Labour’s
fiscal plan in due course.
“When the government open
the books, we’ll set out our own fiscal plan,” he
said.
“We’re not going to be increasing fuel tax by 25
cents a litre on New Zealanders in the midst of a cost of
living crisis, because we know that that means that for many
households, they won’t be able to make their own budgets add
up.”
When announcing Labour’s policy, Hipkins said
Labour would “scale” investments under the National Land
Transport Fund, to fit the funding available.
A few
days later, he would not rule out borrowing to pay for it,
and then subsequently committed to not reversing any of the
top-ups National
implemented.
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