An item from Radio NZ news today is below. Given that a certain Steven Joyce has been the Minister of Transport from late 2008 to late 2011, should we be surprised at the huge drop in annual investigations into evasions from 256 to 79?
The trucking fleet is believed to be dodging more than $50 million in road user charges.
Documents obtained by Radio New Zealand also show the number of investigations into such cases has dropped dramatically.
The Transport Ministry estimates truckies failed to pay almost $51
million in road user charges in the 2010/2011 financial year, a rise of
more than $10 million on the year before. The unpaid amount is equivalent to nearly 5% of the more than $1 billion the levy generates.
The Transport Agency says while it can not be sure of the exact
reason for the estimated increase this is an area where its performance
needs to improve.
The charge helps pay for the maintenance and building of roads and
the Automobile Association says all road users lose out when people don't
pay their fair share.
Both the Association and the Road Transport Forum which represents
the trucking industry say evasion could be eliminated if the road user
charge system was dumped in favour of a diesel tax which they say would
be impossible to avoid and cheaper to run.
Figures also show the agency is conducting fewer investigations into evasion. In the 2008-9 financial year the Transport Agency carried out 256 investigations, collecting some $4 million in unpaid charges. That number fell to 79 investigations in the 2010/2011 financial year which resulted in $2.2 million being recovered. But in that year, the average settlement was much higher than normal
at almost $28,000, and every individual or company investigated was
found to have evaded paying road user charges. In the past three years it has cost between $14 million and $17
million a year to administer RUC collection, investigation and
enforcement.
The Transport Agency says a simplified road user charges system
coming into force in August will reduce the opportunities to evade
paying road user charges.
1 comment:
Makes me feel alot beter if my car goes over the due date before I receive funds to re registar. When I worked in the transport industry all sorts of games occurred , especially before computer tracking came along. Swooping the vin plates on identical vehicles would fool the COF inspector and I assume a similiar tactic is still going on, as most heavy vehicles still have to undergo a six month Certificate of fitness carried out by an independent authority-not there own employed mechanics.Though if looked hard enough the reg number would not of course match.
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