Kia ora and welcome to !newzealand, a place to share and discuss anything about Aotearoa in general
Rules:
FAQ ~ NZ Community List ~ Join Matrix chatroom
Banner image by Bernard Spragg
Got an idea for next month's banner?
As usual they are lying when they say the fee will be based on kilometres and weight. If that was going to be the case commercial traffic would pay 90% of all RUCs collected.
They will instead make it so that 90% are paid by you and me while loaded trucks tear up the roads for a tenth of the cost.
Including EVs?
Yes, thats the point. Every vehicle that uses the road pays the road user charges.
Worth noting that EVs already pay RUC (as of last year). This is about bringing petrol vehicles into the RUC scheme.
I'm not against the idea but the devil will be in the detail. The current RUC process is dumb and I hate it 😅
Yeah, both my work van and my personal vehicle are diesel, and RUCs are a pain in the ass.
This electronic system sounds great.
I see, thanks.
The current RUC process is dumb and I hate it
Maybe it will improve when everyone is forced to use it... 😅
It will have to! I can't imagine a government surviving an election after forcing millions of vehicles to go from a simple never think about it petrol tax system into a system where you have to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars in tax every time you run out of KMs (that you don't even know has happened until you go for a WOF because you don't constantly check your odo).
Although they have made it come into force a couple of years out so maybe this is a trap for the next government.
They should have a transparent window on the back of the pocket, and print the odometer reading on both sides.
It amazes me that nobody has thought of this.
It's a good thought but I don't want to have to check at all. I like the idea of estimating and charging regularly, then squaring up at WOF time. A bit like how income tax works.
Or meter readings for electricity etc. You could even put readings up voluntarily in the same way.
Yeah I like the idea of running it like provisional tax.
If you're an employee your tax is taken out each pay. If you're self employed, you don't wait all year you pay tax in various smaller payments through the year.
These payments are based on your previous year, and are an estimate of how much tax you should be paying. At the end of the year your file a return and pay any shortfall from the estimate or receive a refund if you pay too much. If you know your circumstances are very different, you can provide your own estimate of your income (with certain rules and consequences).
We could do this for RUC. The odo is recorded every WOF so you know how far each car drives each year. Estimate the km for the year and bill people installments (e.g. via direct debit). Let people tell you if it will be significantly different (e.g. change if ownership) and have a process so people can't lie (from memory, provisional tax has penalties if you tell them to change the estimate and you end up significantly undercharged).
Fancy new cars with odos that report like smart electric meters do exist and are nice but we need a system that works for the rest of us in the majority without these functions.