New Zealand scraps regional fuel tax

New Zealand’s planned regional fuel tax for gasoline and diesel fuel was scrapped in March, less than a year after being proposed as a way of paying for major transport projects. The previous government, whose term ended in November 2008, had planned to allow regional councils to impose a fuel tax to pay for transport projects, including the electrification of Auckland’s metro system. The government said it may partially replace the earnings it would have gotten from the regional tax with a nationwide increase of NZ$0.03 (US$0.02) per liter in 2009 and a similar increase in 2010. (March 13/17, 2009)