No new taxes in the Budget. No new taxes in the Budget. No new taxes in the Budget.

Focussed on the cost of living. Focussed on the cost of living. Focussed on the cost of living.

I’m reading there from the list of key messages Prime Minister Chris Hipkins left in the bin here in the studio after he dropped by on Friday.

OK, I’m making that bit up. But that was what he was saying last week after that IRD tax report came out.

There will not be any new taxes in the Budget because we know people are struggling out there and all our attention is going to be helping people deal with the cost of living.

That was last week. This week, though, a slightly different story.

Because, yes, this is not a new tax - but the changes the Government has announced to its Clean Car Discount scheme is nothing more than a tax increase.

You see, what’s happened is electric vehicle sales have gone through the roof in New Zealand since the Government started offering subsidies for people buying EVs.

And because it promised the scheme would be self-sustaining, the Government has to get more money in the door to pay for the subsidies. Which means for anyone who buys a ute, life is going to get more expensive.

Because the ute tax is increasing. For new utes, the maximum fee or tax is going to increase from $5,175 to $6,900. And for second-hand import utes, the fee or tax is going to increase from $2,875 to $3,450.

It won’t just be utes - it will be any “high emitting vehicles”. And it’s not just the tax that’s going up, the Government is also lowering the bar in terms of what a “high emitting vehicle” actually is.

At the moment, if you buy a vehicle that puffs out more than 146 grams of CO2 per kilometre, you get stung. On the 1st July, that will change, and any vehicle that lets out more than 100 grams of CO2 per kilometre will have the ute tax added to the sale price.

So they’re the numbers. But I think the main issue here is the fact that the Government is going to sting people even more - especially people who have no option at the moment but to buy and use the types of vehicles that Transport Minister Michael Wood doesn’t want on our roads.

This, at the same time as it’s been banging on about no new taxes and being so focused on reducing the impact on people of the cost of living crisis.

I see Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni has been saying that it’s no big deal because it’s not something that’s going to cost people on an ongoing basis.

They’ll just have to pay it when they buy a new ute.

And Transport Minister Michael Wood is saying he thinks it's fine that people who can afford to buy a brand new Tesla get a government subsidy because one less petrol guzzler on the road is a good thing.

On top of all that, who was the guy making all the noise last week about no new taxes and being so focussed on the cost of living crisis? Who was that? It was the Prime Minister.

And where’s he, as this increased tax is being announced? He’s uncontactable. Because he’s 42,000 feet up in the air flying to London for the King’s Coronation.

And then, once he gets there, he’ll be so busy with his bi-laterals and tri-laterals and getting the morning suit all lined up that any questions about the ute tax will be referred back to the guy in charge of that - Transport Minister Michael Woods.

Am I being unkind here? Do you think it is just coincidence that the PM is up in the clouds as this thing’s being announced? It couldn’t possibly be delayed until Chris Hipkins gets back from London next week.

Urgent announcement. Something happening two months from now. Best get it out ASAP. Oh, Chippy’s not going to be here? Didn’t think about that. Best we announce it though. Urgent. Only two months away. Couldn't possibly wait until next week.

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