National in Danger of Swapping One Middle-Class Subsidy for Another

Commenting on the National Party’s re-affirmation of their pledge to scrap the Clean Car Discount, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“Under Labour’s Ute Tax, families, farmers and tradies have been subsidising the lifestyle choices of wealthy urban professionals. Robbing from hardworking people to the tune of half a billion dollars so that middle-class Kiwis can save a few bucks on a shiny new set of wheels is both immoral and unsustainable.

“National’s plan to scrap the Ute Tax by the end of the year will be a welcome Christmas present for Kiwis struggling under the cost-of-living crisis. However, rather than swapping one middle-class subsidy for another, National also need to commit to scrapping their plans to waste even more of the taxpayers’ money propping up the electric vehicle industry.

“Given Treasury’s recent update on the dire state of our nation’s finances, it is woefully irresponsible to commit to spending $257 million in taxpayers’ money on EV charging points. The market has been perfectly adequate at providing petrol pumps across the country without the need for the government to build, own, and operate them. If New Zealanders want to switch to electric vehicles, then the same will be true of charging points.

“Once again, when drafting this policy National seem to have completely missed the fact that this subsidy won’t reduce emissions by even a single gram. As net emissions are capped under the Emissions Trading Scheme, any reduction in car-related emissions will simply free up carbon credits to be used in other sectors.”