Auckland will get electrified rail - but the whole country will pay

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Topic # 31407 16-Mar-2009 23:31

this was the headline from the tv3 news today:

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.

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Tahii

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Reply # 201548 17-Mar-2009 08:45

Ouch, where to start...

For a start, you'd be pleasantly surprised by how much revenue is generated in Te Anau by tourism. Second, most towns (big or small) lie on a State Highway, which means the government is paying for the maintanence of these roads, meaning even if regionalised taxing did come in, most places would be fine.

Petrol tax revenue doesn't solely rely on the tourism of an area - think of industry as well. Places like Southland (where I live, hence me replying to this post and having to defend Te Anau) are primary producers, so we have stock trucks, and milk tankers on the road 24/7, so I wouldn't be surprised at all if the tax dollars were actually flowing north...

Also, council's come into it. Te Anau is looked after by the Southland District Council. Even with all the road maintanence from the heavy traffic users, there is still money to burn in the coffers. Whereas most places have horrid rates increases, the Southland area (excl. Gore and Invercargill) has very low increases - this is because the council looked forward early on, and invested in the provence (in particular, $300M worth of forestry) to provide some financial independancy.

I really don't mean to cause offence, but its posts like this that show why small-town NZ thinks of Auckland the way they do.

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Reply # 201603 17-Mar-2009 12:56

First of all i'm not only meaning petrol taxes - roading and public transport is not funded purely on petrol taxes. Funding for roads and other infrastructure country-wide comes from the tax haul of all the taxes - GST, Income, Excise, Duties etc. Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury compirse over 50% of the total NZ population as of the 2006 census. I would be surpised if 50% of the tax revenue generated and collected in these regions is being spent in these regions (even after removing the 'central govt running costs')

Also, council's come into it. Te Anau is looked after by the Southland District Council. Even with all the road maintanence from the heavy traffic users, there is still money to burn in the coffers. Whereas most places have horrid rates increases, the Southland area (excl. Gore and Invercargill) has very low increases - this is because the council looked forward early on, and invested in the provence (in particular, $300M worth of forestry) to provide some financial independancy.

Once again, councils don't fund everything within the region with rates. Additional funding is provided by central govt to fund schools, hospitals, (rugby grounds..) and much more. For example, pick a school in a Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch and see how much funding it gets in comparison to a school in a small town. A lot of schools in the cities dont get funding at all.

so we have stock trucks, and milk tankers on the road 24/7

which mostly run on diesel fuel, not petrol fuel so its road user charges that are collected from these, not petrol taxes.

I really don't mean to cause offence, but its posts like this that show why small-town NZ thinks of Auckland the way they do.

i was born in wellington, not auckland and small-town NZ (especially south-islanders) seem to think of aucklanders differently than they think of wellingtonians (for example). Infrastructure projects in wellington get funded by the whole country too - but why do only aucklanders get the abuse though?

I don't think aucklanders get a fair cop in the media when headlines like this are used and it encourages small town NZ to think of aucklanders differently than if the headlines were different.

Going back to the Eden Park rugby upgrade fiasco.... more headlines indicating that the whole country will be funding the 'auckland' stadium upgrade. Where was the uproar when wellington, waikato, christchurch and now otago got local body funding? I sure dont remember any. Double standards.

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Reply # 201623 17-Mar-2009 14:37

Regs: this was the headline from the tv3 news today:

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.

Nice to see that the general power issues in Auckland have been sorted out then, to make this type of heavy draw viable....

________

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Reply # 201624 17-Mar-2009 14:37

i was born in wellington, not auckland and small-town NZ (especially south-islanders) seem to think of aucklanders differently than they think of wellingtonians (for example). Infrastructure projects in wellington get funded by the whole country too - but why do only aucklanders get the abuse though?

I don't think aucklanders get a fair cop in the media when headlines like this are used and it encourages small town NZ to think of aucklanders differently than if the headlines were different.

Going back to the Eden Park rugby upgrade fiasco.... more headlines indicating that the whole country will be funding the 'auckland' stadium upgrade. Where was the uproar when wellington, waikato, christchurch and now otago got local body funding? I sure dont remember any. Double standards.

Dont take it to heart, in reality the rest of the country couldnt give a rats arse about Auckland, they only do it to wind you up when there is nothing good on telly.

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Reply # 201649 17-Mar-2009 15:54

kiwitrc:
Dont take it to heart, in reality the rest of the country couldnt give a rats arse about Auckland, they only do it to wind you up when there is nothing good on telly.

LOL, but not true.... go to some 'small town' pubs and mention you're an aucklander after the locals have had a few and see what reactions you get. its a much more dangerous statement than 'i'm from _insert any other city name here_'. hell, you dont even need to say anything sometimes - trouble comes looking for aucklanders. When i'm travelling I'm glad i can say i was born in wellington and did high-school in napier.

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Reply # 201688 17-Mar-2009 17:57

Regs:LOL, but not true.... go to some 'small town' pubs and mention you're an aucklander after the locals have had a few and see what reactions you get.

Yeah there's some really disappointing attitudes and stereotypes out there like that.
"Yer a towwwnie roight? Nawt anovva blardy Dawklanda are ya?"
Even in a nice small country like NZ we still have groups of people whose default setting is to automattically hate anybody that lives more than two suburbs away.
And yeah, people really need to look at our tax stats carefully before mouthing off about where our money goes.

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Reply # 201744 17-Mar-2009 21:21

Yeah, sorry rest of NZ, but when when Auckland craps out, so does the rest of the country.
When Auckland based businesses cannot function because half of their staff cannot get to work and provide timely and relevant technical support, the screams from the provinces grow loud.
Never mind the density of taxpayers and ratepayers on and around the isthumus, every time I return to the provinces, I am reminded that there is no-one around so the taxes that are paying for all this glorious infrastructure must have come from somewhere else.
In a simple sentence, get over it.
Sorry if that sounds inflammatory, but the money has to come from somewhere, and it is not coming from three houses, a farm and a service station out in the hinterlands.
We all live here and enjoy what what we have, everyone wants state of the art toys and vehicles, fact is, all of these goodies are supported by multinational companies, usually based in Auckland.
If returning to candlelight and a nice cup of tea by the fire suits better, go do it, otherwise, deal with reality.