Christopher Luxon, New Zealand Prime Minister 2023

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Forums › Politics › Christopher Luxon, New Zealand Prime Minister 2023

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#3469230 12-Mar-2026 08:10

GV27:

SaltyNZ:

Rejigging fleet FBT is a great idea. Even just making it clear utes only count if you're a tradie rather than an accountant would help reduce emissions a lot even if didn't prod people into EVs. Plus, there would be fewer utes on the road.

Just enforcing the FBT rules we have would be a start.

But we have decent EV and HEV utes now, they will only get better with time.

There is a common misconception that utes are exempt from FBT, this isn't necessarily the case. They can be exempt if certain criteria are met (sign-written, letter on file regarding no personal use and checks/audits done periodically), but its not a blanket "free ride". Ofcourse this doesn't stop people flouting the rules (and I'd guess its more tradies / small operators than corporate / fleet operators) but if they choose to ignore their obligations, then the IRD can (and has) undertake enforcement action.

There are some very good HEV/PHEV utes around, not sure how much traction full EV utes will get with the market.

If you reduce FBT on PHEV/Electric vehicles, the Govt income will decline, what services do you propose cutting (I'd vote for stats, I get a stupid amount of surveys to complete)?

GV27

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#3469250 12-Mar-2026 09:14

sen8or:

If you reduce FBT on PHEV/Electric vehicles, the Govt income will decline, what services do you propose cutting (I'd vote for stats, I get a stupid amount of surveys to complete)?

The 'double cab ute = exempt' is bush accounting but some have run with it and others are happy to repeat it to the point where it has become considered fact, despite having to meet all four criteria to be considered a work vehicle.

Been a while since I read up on the small-business FBT rules as they're not relevant to me anymore but closely-held companies used to be able to nominate a vehicle to be exempt from FBT, but it conversely limited them to the actual business portion of usage and they were unable to claim 100% of running costs.

Even if they didn't go down that route then FBT was a notional adjustment as a debit to the shareholder account for use of the vehicle without formal FBT registration but my understanding is other accountants treated that differently. And it usually was worth claiming 100% of the running costs, depreciation, insurance etc anyway as it was more than the notional FBT adjustment.

Don't forget any forgone FBT would be offset by the increased revenue from punitive RUC under the current government.

We should be nuking the Stats NZ surveys anyway.

SaltyNZ

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#3469252 12-Mar-2026 09:17

sen8or:

If you reduce FBT on PHEV/Electric vehicles, the Govt income will decline, what services do you propose cutting (I'd vote for stats, I get a stupid amount of surveys to complete)?

You don't have to decrease the FBT on PHEV/BEV vehicles. You can increase it vehicles that are not. Same effect, no loss of revenue.

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ezbee

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#3469958 14-Mar-2026 09:51

Who knew
Delaying new ferries by years would come with economic costs of decrepit ones being unreliable and capacity marginal.
Mini ferries of limited capacity tied to aging port infrastructure right on major Wellington fault line.
Hopefully they are asbestos free, not with free asbestos.

Green Party warns of 'perfect storm' as ferry breakdowns disrupt travel and freight
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/589551/green-party-warns-of-perfect-storm-as-ferry-breakdowns-disrupt-travel-and-freight

""
The Interislander's Kaiārahi has been out of service since Tuesday night because of a technical fault. An Interislander staff member has gone overseas to collect crucial components to fix the stricken ferry.

Meanwhile, a technical fault meant that Bluebridge's Connemara ferry was also cancelled on Thursday and Friday. Its Picton-Wellington service was scheduled to return to service early on Saturday morning.
""
"On behalf of the Prime Minister, no, I don't accept that, because there have been long-documented problems with the existing ferries," Seymour replied.
""

gzt

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#3470032 14-Mar-2026 11:39

Christopher Luxon, New Zealand Prime Minister 2023

Is the prime minister virtually absent on the fuel issue?

I've seen a few words from the finance minister none of which reassured me that the govt had a handle on things. There seems to be an unwillingness to explore the topic and get out in front with information.

Without some steering things are are going to go a bit loopy imo. To some extent that is already occuring.

ezbee

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#3470052 14-Mar-2026 13:14

Great New Zealand Inventions Ghost Chips, now Ghost Prime Minister.

On fuel and energy, that's a minefield of potentially 'woke' things you might accidently say cos they are sensible.
Then your core vote is gone.

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GV27

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#3470064 14-Mar-2026 14:26

Also rather highlights the absurdity of our tourism-geared economy relying on a carbon-intensive transport method that injects exotic fuels and vapour by-products into the higher atmosphere to bring people from the other side of the world to spend money in our country on things that our own locals can't afford to do.

Also telling that this particular aspect of our economy seems to be out of bounds when it comes to talk of a climate emergency and no one wants to talk about how that might not be the most sustainable state of affairs in the long-run.

I mean we have electric cars now, we have electric trucks, we could pivot our fleet emissions and fuel usage quickly because those products currently exist. We do not have a solution for aviation emissions.

sir1963

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#3470398 15-Mar-2026 12:01

And we should have canned comalco and invested into getting that power put into our national grid.

And instead of a LNG port, we should be putting solar panels on houses, putting in fast rechargers for EVs and getting back to electrifying the main trunk line.

The fuels we have get reserved more and more for heavy equipment (Farming, construction)

We need to move away from low wage/low profit activities and push for value added products for exports

We should invest in IT/Software/Digital media/gaming / Open source alternatives to Microsoft etc, things we can export at effectively nil cost

Farming, Tourism, Pine Trees will NOT keep NZs head above water unless we accept a lower shrinking standard of living.

And I sure as hell don't want out politicians kicking the "too hard" can down the road until it is too late. It may annoy the primary produce lot, lose their votes, but we are better off seeing reality, the future, and doing our best to capitalise on it.

As for farming we feed 0.05% of the world's population , a rounding error in the great scheme of things. Indias dairy industry is something like 17 times bigger than ours, we are unique in that we are one of the few countries that live off primary produce as a main source of income.

MurrayM

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#3470728 16-Mar-2026 09:22

gzt:
Is the prime minister virtually absent on the fuel issue?

I've seen a few words from the finance minister none of which reassured me that the govt had a handle on things. There seems to be an unwillingness to explore the topic and get out in front with information.

I think their plan is to say nothing, do nothing, and with a bit of lucky the situation will resolve itself.

SaltyNZ

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#3470743 16-Mar-2026 09:48

MurrayM:

gzt:
Is the prime minister virtually absent on the fuel issue?

I've seen a few words from the finance minister none of which reassured me that the govt had a handle on things. There seems to be an unwillingness to explore the topic and get out in front with information.

I think their plan is to say nothing, do nothing, and with a bit of lucky the situation will resolve itself.

To be fair, as a strategy it's working fantastically for the economy so far.

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SaltyNZ

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#3470757 16-Mar-2026 10:11

Willis not really thinking things through here...

"I simply don't accept the idea that giving subsudies to millionaires in Remuara would help those afflicted by high petrol prices," Willis said.

What, like your boss who claimed it twice and then blamed it on his wife, Nicola?

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#3470759 16-Mar-2026 10:12

SaltyNZ:

Willis not really thinking things through here...

"I simply don't accept the idea that giving subsudies to millionaires in Remuara would help those afflicted by high petrol prices," Willis said.

What, like your boss who claimed it twice and then blamed it on his wife, Nicola?

"I simply don't accept" sounds like people who make decisions on... feelings.

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#3470771 16-Mar-2026 10:40

freitasm:

SaltyNZ:

Willis not really thinking things through here...

"I simply don't accept the idea that giving subsudies to millionaires in Remuara would help those afflicted by high petrol prices," Willis said.

What, like your boss who claimed it twice and then blamed it on his wife, Nicola?

"I simply don't accept" sounds like people who make decisions on... feelings.

Also, doesn't her lot believe in trickle-down economics? Like, if we give tax cuts to landlords that will solve the housing crisis so surely letting Remuera soccer mums buy EVs will solve the oil crisis...

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SaltyNZ

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#3470772 16-Mar-2026 10:42

Note - in this case, I actually do believe in trickle-down albeit the whole thing is a lot more nuanced than Willis is making out. It didn't just apply to expensive new EVs - which would be starting to enter the second-hand market about now. It also applied to second-hand Leafs, hybrids, and even to some extent to efficient ICE vehicles.

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quickymart

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#3470808 16-Mar-2026 11:42

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/589684/no-need-to-panic-fuel-supplier-says-as-average-petrol-price-surges-past-3

Willis has shut down suggestions of temporarily cutting the fuel excise tax, as the Labour government previously did in response to the Russia-Ukraine war, saying it was too broad.

She said she was closely looking at the cost of living impacts the rise in fuel prices has on lower-income working New Zealanders.

Rather than "looking at it", how about, y'know, doing something about it? 🙄

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