Motorists' ACC levies to fall

**bungbung** · 11th December 2003, 07:49

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?** · 11th December 2003, 08:36

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.

**bluninja** · 11th December 2003, 09:46

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** · 11th December 2003, 11:05

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** · 11th December 2003, 11:07

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

**jrandom** · 11th December 2003, 11:43

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** · 11th December 2003, 12:15

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** · 11th December 2003, 14:27

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** · 11th December 2003, 19:53

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** · 11th December 2003, 20:08

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

**georgedubyabush** · 11th December 2003, 20:46

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** · 11th December 2003, 21:06

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** · 12th December 2003, 07:24

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?** · 12th December 2003, 07:51

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

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?** · 12th December 2003, 07:53

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.