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Brown wants to tax us more

by Whaleoil on July 16, 2012

ᔥ NewstalkZB

Len Brown looks set to campaign on taxing Aucklanders more. Len Brown seeks to make Auckland the world’s most livable city but is actually setting us up to be the world’s most livid city. Looking after his mates with cushy deals, profligate spending on the V8s and massive rates hikes are making us all livid, now he wants to ramp up the anger by taxing us to drive on roads we have already paid for:

Auckland’s mayor is confident planned transport projects for the city can be delivered.

The projects include a second harbour crossing and the inner city rail link.

Len Brown’s announced three funding options he’s seeking more information on – congestion and network charges, regional fuel tax, and additional carpark charges.

He says he was voted in with a mandate to sort out Auckland’s transport problems.

He says it’s critical to go for the best option with the best technology.

Mr Brown says the council hopes to take a funding proposal to the Government in a year’s time.

Mr Brown also had a mandate to hold a referendum on Maori seats but somehow doesn’t feel obligated to deliver on that.

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  • Guest

    kinda takes the wind out of the left’s “JK doesnt have a mandate” argument too…..

    • Guest

      can i access some funding to pay signature collectors for a referendum against this?

      • Guest

        hypocrisy hypocrisy hypocrisy!

  • In Vino Veritas

    John Banks was voted in with a mandate to put in more roads to sort out our transport problems. From memory, he lasted one term! Thanks for coming Red Len.

    • patriot

      Len Brown is a left wing lunatic – the rail line from city to Newton is too short to make enuff of a difference . Brown is mad to commit so much money on such an expensive short distance project 

      We will VOTE him out at the next election . What a socialist idiot.   

  • Notrotsky

    Len Brown is a fucking cunt !

  • Mr Sackunkrak

    I suppose Maori could claim the roads too.

    • BJ

      Nah  Roads have to be maintained

  • Sir Cullen’s Sidekick

    Well Aucklanders – you voted for this leftie…what else is new, tax and spend…I don’t have any sympathy for you guys…you brought it on yourself….

    • Travis Poulson

      Not born in Auckland, but have lived here nearly 5 years for a woman, and first chance we get, GONE!!! Len can do what he likes for all I care, because I won’t be around to be affected, the place is a shit hole. Dunno what the criteria was for being one of the most liveable cities, but I hate the effing place. 

  • logical

    Dick Hubbard talked the same rubbish and was booted out after one term.Hopefully the same will happen Loopy Len.

     If he wants to build useless train sets then he should be talking about how much tax he needs to add to each train ticket to pay for it. Then see if the people who ride on trains want them.

    Trains have got nothing  to do with cars so people who drive cars obviously should not have to pay tax to fund trains.There,quite simple really. How thick would a person be if he does not understand that basic principle ?

  • Butts_McButts

    I don’t know why you pick on the V8 spending Cam, there’s a whole raft of bullshit cultural feel good rubbish that gets funding too. At least people show up to the V8s. 

  • Pacman1000

    Auckland Councils wish list of projects. To pay for these projects, borrowing will increase from $3.9bn in 2012 to $12.5bn by 2022. That’s well over a 320% increase. That increase will be met in the most part by mum and dad rate payer. Interest on this borrowing according to LTP – is currently $264m (2012) but will rise to $768m by (2022). So by 2022 debt servicing will be 35% of the general rate base. Insane! Mum and Dad Ratepayer will end up paying for this. Lunatics running the Asylum.

  • Tristanb

    Oh good. I’m glad that their Queenstown conference has come up with some great ideas. I guess the conclusion was: Tax ratepayers some more.

    Great stuff – well worth the cost of their travel. These guys deserve a break from all this hard work, but I guess they’ll just have to wait til they’ve finished a Climate Change Summit in Cancun, and that sustainability conference hosted at the Greek Islands – poor things will probably have to take their spouses too. It’s hard work being in a council – maybe they’ll have to vote for a pay rise again.

  • Sadu

    The fourth option of course is to stop spending money on shit so that there is money left in the kitty for core services, like roads and public transport. You don’t have to look very hard to find ways to save money with this council.

    Honestly, his first priority should be getting rates increases in line with inflation. The council are patting each other on the backs and acting all chuffed because rates are ONLY going up 4.9% for the next however many years. Until they can get the rates back in line with reality, all the other bullshit has to stop – V8s, Maori Stat board, Junkets to Queenstown, Expensive computer software, rebranding for the sake of rebranding, etc etc.

    More tax on things that have already been paid for, plus huge rates increases is total bollocks.

    • Good days ahead

      you’re right on the button

  • Good days ahead

    could someone please tell Mr Brown, as he hasn’t noticed yet that Auckland is a SUPER CITY it doesn’t stop in the CBD. Our road has been shit for four years (Bank’s fault to be fair). No one has asked the question – how much is it going to cost to ride this inner city rail loop? Overseas only the wealthy can afford the underground now, others walk or catch the bus. Answers/questions would be good in this regard,

  • Johnny T

    One of the reasons I don’t live in Auckland relates to the fact that public transportation is shit.
    At least down this way I can jump on the train, read my book and be at work in 40 minutes.

  • Staplez

    What is it that you want us to use Len our cars or the rail. Your giving us mixed messages about our cities transport. I’ve paid plenty for the roads now, I don’t want to pay for an out dated mode of transport that will not support this city. We’re not Sydney which was more or less built around a rail system, we’re a city built around a road network.

    My grandfather was a railway engineer in sydney and his story says that tracks were first buildings were second.

  • Allan

    Words fail me, does loopy Len think that we  have bottomless pockets.  We simply can not afford to let this idiot carry on with his ridiculous, expensive, grandiose schemes.  He has got to go and the sooner the better for us all.

  • John Q Public

    Why don’t we protest? People can mobilize for shit like “no mining” what about this? Where’s the march up Queen St?

  • http://libertyscott.blogspot.com Liberty Scott

    Not being able to fund billions of spending from rates is code for:
    - If I raised rates to pay for what I want, then I wouldn’t get elected.

    It’s rather simple, Auckland doesn’t “need” the grandious plans of local body politicians. Once the Western Ring Road is finished, the key motorway links will be largely done.  The rail network has had a fortune spent on it largely to shift people from buses onto trains and modestly flatten road demand. 

    What’s really needed is to take the local roads off of Auckland Transport, put it into a company and run it like a business, replace rates funding with the revenue from parking and peak charges and expand the wide range of intersection bottlenecks across the city.

    A fair rule of thumb is that the bigger the project, the more likely politicians are to want it, and the less worthwhile it is to do (especially if the private sector’s interest is not paying for it, but charging the government to build it).

  • Patrick

    With a bit of luck Rodney Hide drafted the legalities in such a way that this cannot happen – but then Rodders was probably too busy looking for a position in the trough to rest his snout. All in all a massive opportunity to do something positive was wasted. When you sit back & observe this mess it reminds you or what Red Ken did in London – old commie forcing his idealism on the masses, taxing the daylights out of an ever decreasing tax base for his pet projects. Preaching to all to use public transport but then looking down his nose at the great unwashed from the limo.
    Hide has a lot to answer for – he allowed this scenario to happen.

  • Apollo

    Red Len, needs to stop fucking around with his leftist ideology and addreess this real issue. we actually do need a better public transport system, city wide.but he cant afford it.. well len swallow your spikey little leftist principles and get business involved. Public private partnerships.. works every where else

  • Sarrs

    I knew this reminded me of something – Spain. 
    White elephants and rampant egotism – bet the Spanish aren’t saying thanks to their socialist central and local governments. 
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2170886/Spains-ghost-airport-The-1BILLION-transport-hub-closed-just-years-thats-falling-rack-ruin.html 

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