Source: Tax Justice Aotearoa
The announcement by the Minister of Transport today of the privatisation of road user charge collection has been challenged by Tax Justice Aotearoa as undermining the integrity of the revenue gathering system.
“We are deeply concerned by this initiative as using the power of the state to require citizens to pay charges decided by the state is a core function of government,” says Glenn Barclay Chair of Tax Justice Aotearoa. “It should not be for the profit of anyone and it means that the details of thousands of road users will be held and managed by private organisations with no accountability back to the public.”
“The Minister talks about competition but you don’t want or need competition in the conduct of such basic government function and its hard to see how there would be real competition when the charges are fixed by the government,” says Glenn Barclay. “Private companies also have additional costs arising from their need to pay returns to shareholders and to borrow money at commercial rates, so ultimately it is hard to see how this might drive any savings for government or the public.”
Tax Justice Aotearoa is also questioning the grounds on which the decision was made.
“It is buried in a press release from the Minister about the modernisation of the road user charging system, without any information about the problem this policy change will be addressing and what other options have been considered,” says Glenn Barclay. “So it is not just a bad policy but also a bad policy process.”
