Auckland will get electrified rail---but the whole country will pay
Auckland drivers will not have to stump up for the city’s new electric trains – the whole country will.
I really dislike headlines like this. These are the reason i get someone in a service station in Te Anau abusing me because the price of petrol is so high there and they tell me its because everyone in Te Anau is paying for Auckland to have new roads. What?? Are you serious?? You really think the 2000 or so people who live in Te Anau have bought so much petrol that they are covering the costs of their own roads and also have extra left over to buy auckland some new roads? I dont think so. I doubt that there would even be a break-even when you combine tourist revenue from the region. More likely that people in Auckland (and other major cities too of course) are paying for your roads to be built and maintained! If we regionalised all the taxes then i bet some of the towns in this country would only ever be reachable by 4WD, if even at all. I'd love to see some stats showing the tax take per region compared with the tax spend per region.