"Wheel tax" etc
In New Zealand we are subject to two kinds of such tax, country-wide.
The first is levied on fuel ( petrol, and in time alcohol added ) at the pump.
I
forget what percentage of the total cost it is, but it is very significant.
Until the late 1970's it was possible to claim a rebate for fuel used off-road,
eg in pleasure boats, lawn-mowers etc, but that rebate system was done
away with before 1980.
For diesel-powered road vehicles, there is a separate "road-user charge"
levy that is purchased in blocks of 1,000 km at a rate depending on the
weight/axle rating of the vehicle/trailer, and the proof of this is shown on a
sticker attached to the inside of the windscreen.
The second is levied on the gross weight class of the vehicle, and is based
on the known engineering fact the a rolling weight passing over a road
deforms the road and contributes to its deterioration and eventual need for
maintenance. Unsprung axles are more damaging than sprung axles. For
multi-axle trucks and trailers, the transport industry uses a set of known
formulae. Paid annually (or for smaller blocks of time).
In theory, these two taxes/ levies should be used for road maintenance /
construction, but successive governments have long since given up any
pretence on that score, and the cash goes into a general revenue bucket ...
Vehicles are given one set of licence plates for life, and the legal state of
the
vehicle to ne on the road is indicated by a suitable-sized sticker on the
interior of the windscreen.
Farm-tractors and suchlike permanently off-road vehicles, as far as i know
(this may have altered since I was last involved in the system) often have
tanker delivery to the farm etc and no fuel tax is levied on such deliveries.
Some cities, the Auckland conurbation in particular, discuss fro time to time
a local fuel tax for road construction. I don't know if any have been
implemented yet.
Brian Swale
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