Motorists' ACC levies to fall

[bungbung]

Hopefully a similar, if not greater reduction for the ACC component of a bike rego.

(NZ Herald)

Motorists' ACC levies to fall

11.12.2003 7.00 am

Motorists expecting to be hit by an increase in petrol tax to help fund Auckland's roading problems might find some comfort from a reduction in ACC levies. ACC Minister Ruth Dyson said yesterday that ACC levies for motorists and the self-employed would drop, while levies for employers and earners would stay the same.

The average total levy for motor vehicles - made up of the vehicle licensing fee and petrol excise tax - would fall by 6.8 per cent from $211.95 to $197.50, she said. The average total self-employed levy would drop by 2.2 per cent from $3.17 to $3.10 per $100 of liable earnings.

[What?]

Funny - I read this on the ACC site the same day Lee Rusty posted something about increases. No mention of changes for bikes, up or down.

I HATE the idea of imposing extra levies to help Auckland's roading woes. Sorry guys, but Auckland is no worse off than many other places, and the solution lies (imo) not in building more roads, but in making it harder to take cars into the CBD. If Auckland ran a congestion tax (like London), but allowed bikes / scooters and mobility card holders in free, I reckon things would improve instantly.

Nah it wouldn't. I forgot, the council couldn't run an orgy in a brothel, let alone a working public transport system. Silly me.:Oops:

[bluninja]

Any reduction in on-road costs sounds good to me.

As for Auckland....100,000 of 250,000 (approx) business premises in New Zealand. If 40% of the countries wealth generators get clogged up and can't work it's going to have serious consequences to the economy.  Even forgetting extra roading, there will still be a cost creating an alternative transport infrastructure.

TTFN

[MikeL]

And before those from other parts of the country start having a go at us Jafas, just remember that if we had received our fair share of road funding based on population, we wouldn't be in this mess. But do we complain about all the money spent on South Island roads that see one vehicle every 5 minutes??

What? You're right about a congestion tax. I doubt if anyone could object to it on principle. But the practicality is another matter. I think the U.K. experience has shown that it's difficult to administer fairly and prevent fraud. But it's still worth pursuing.

[wkid_one]

BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH - haven't we beaten this topic to death

[jrandom]

Originally posted by wkid_one
BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH - haven't we beaten this topic to death

No, that would be 'immigrant drivers'.

The 'congestion and public transport administration' topic hasn't actually triggered personal insults, outright flamage or Godwin's Law yet. Therefore it's still Officially Alive, OK?

[Lou Girardin]

Aucklands problem isn't inner city congestion, as in London. It's congestion on the feeder routes. A congestion tax won't alleviate this, but it sounds good to John Banks though.
Teaching drivers how to use motorways might help. Start with showing people in the left lane how to leave a space for on - ramp traffic to merge.

[ManDownUnder]

OK... my 2 cents worth...

Free public transport, double the number of buses and 1/2 the size of the buggers... make them chreaper to buy and run... putting more on as required to cope with the growing number of commuters using the things.

Bill people for parking (more than they do) in the downtown area(s) and promot low cost, low pollution transport alternatives (why do m'bikes leap to mind?)

Make it attractive to get into town cheap and easy... and UNattractive to take the car. The things take up more room than a herd of elephants on the road anyway and 90% of them have one person in them... find the space 40 cars take upon the road and imagin it cleared with the exception of a full bus that wou be needed to replace it.

As for immigrant drivers - my theory is thatr they don;t know how to drive BECAUSE at home (where they came from) they DO have public transport to the point they have not needed to learn how to drive...

*phew* that a load off... 'scuse my bleating - I'm off for a rest

MDU

[wkid_one]

Originally posted by wkid_one
BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH - haven't we beaten this topic to death

BLAH BLAH BLAH yes we have

[Motu]

My wife needed to go to Queen St yesterday - she walked 400 metres to the train station,caught the train....walked out of the station onto Queen St,did her message,walked back to the station and got the next train back home.Like,is this Melbourne or what!? We've been waiting 40yrs for service like this,we need to support what little there is to offer to make it viable.

To those who choose to live in Howick :whocares:

[georgedubyabush]

Originally posted by wkid_one
BLAH BLAH BLAH yes we have

It's a bit of a worry when you start to quote yourself

[bungbung]

C'mon you guys - what did we start with? the ACC component of bike rego hopefully getting smaller. Nothing about immigrant drivers, congested cities or Auckland.

Talk about getting carried away.

[jrandom]

Originally posted by wkid_one
BLAH BLAH BLAH yes we have

Quick! Someone go find the guy standing behind wkid with a gun forcing him to read every thread and point out that such coercion is most impolite.

[What?]

MikeL and Blu, you are both right. The last line of my post should have given my position away. :o

So, why do car drivers get an ACC premium decrease and motorcyclists don't? Is that not an increase in disguise?? For once, I have no thoughts on the matter, other than I still believe ACC is legalised fraud and should be shut down.:

[What?]

Originally posted by jrandom
Quick! Someone go find the guy standing behind wkid with a gun forcing him to read every thread and point out that such coercion is most impolite.

The man with the gun is not behind Wkid's head, he is in it. He is called "No Bike Syndrome" and can be a very nasty character indeed. Best avoided.:D

[ManDownUnder]

A thought (I have them every now and then)...

Didn't the High Court determined the TV Licence was actually a tax because it was a compulsory payment (despite the fact you could elect to NOT use the "benefits" delivered by it)?

Remind me how this differs in the case of the ACC "levy" (surely we could choose to not take the ACC hand outs on offer - indeed I pay my own private health care to that end...)

Any Lawyers out there can clarify? I expect there is an ACC Act somewhere in the annuls of NZ Legal history that says we have to depiste the fact the levy IS effectively a tax...

Bring it on - I'm keen to hear back on this one... we might all be able to somply tell ACC to stick it (conditional on the fact we are aware of, and knowingly refuse to take any of the benefits accompanying it).

MDU

[bikerboy]

A few flaws in that approach I'm afraid.

First, private health care will not cover anything covered by ACC. So if you break your leg in a biking accident and want the private insurance to pay for treatment, they will deny the claim as it is covered by ACC as it was an accident.

Secondly, if you refuse cover who pays the bill when your hospitalized for three months with a massive head injury from a biking accident. Not the private insurance as it now exists. It would have to be revised to cover such things and the price will skyrocket.

So anyway you look at it we're screwed Mate. :o

[ManDownUnder]

Originally posted by bikerboy
A few flaws in that approach I'm afraid.

First, private health care will not cover anything covered by ACC. So if you break your leg in a biking accident and want the private insurance to pay for treatment, they will deny the claim as it is covered by ACC as it was an accident.

Secondly, if you refuse cover who pays the bill when your hospitalized for three months with a massive head injury from a biking accident. Not the private insurance as it now exists. It would have to be revised to cover such things and the price will skyrocket.

So anyway you look at it we're screwed Mate. :o

ok - responses to the points you raise... in order of them being raised

1) - bugger

2) - bugger

3) - see points 1 or 2

... but thanks

MDU

[wkid_one]

Once again we manage to continue down the same track of conversation - whinge whinge whinge.........

We know the costs of riding are bike are only going to go in one direction......you aren't gonna stop riding - either petition, stop riding, or quit your whinging about it

[marty]

Once again we manage to continue down the same track of conversation - whinge whinge whinge.........

We know the costs of riding are bike are only going to go in one direction......you aren't gonna stop riding - either petition, stop riding, or quit your whinging about it


or if you've got nothing to really whinge about, whinge about the whingeing... :)

[James Deuce]

Once again we manage to continue down the same track of conversation - whinge whinge whinge.........

We know the costs of riding are bike are only going to go in one direction......you aren't gonna stop riding - either petition, stop riding, or quit your whinging about it

Dude!!

try the OTHER side of the bed in the morning, eh?? :D

[wkid_one]

Nah - it is just the same tunes on this board - whinging about:
- Bad drivers
- Bad Roads
- Bad Cops
- Speeding Tickets
- Costs of riding
SUrely we can think of someone more constructive to talk about than this. Just about EVERY post get turns around to one (or more ) of these discussions..

Just an observation is all

[wkid_one]

Try having a look at R1.com and other OS talk boards and see what they talk about - not nearly as much whinging.....mind you this is the NZ pysche at its best I suppose.

We should be heralding new models, talking about customising our rides, the next ride, the day at the track etc etc.

Fuck - any newbie coming to this site couldn't be blamed for thinking they shouldn';t bother riding because the roads suck, the cops are out to get us, ACC hates our guts, it is getting more expensive to ride, parts etc are more expensive.......great advertisement and not very constructive.

Why do you think I post so much about news and new models etc....

If you want to whinge and moan - go to your local PM luncheon.

[James Deuce]

I know what you are saying mate. I enjoy looking at new stuff and hearing about people's experiences.

But it is nice to offload with people who know what you're whinging about ;)