HDPA says petrol tax may cost Labour 2020 election

HDPA writes:

Yes it’s a tax.

The Prime Minister can dance on the head of a pin as much as she likes in a weak bid to defend hiking the petrol tax but she’s going to get nowhere. The damage is done.

This will hurt Labour in a huge way.

Here’s the problem. Jacinda Ardern and her finance minister promised no new taxes under Labour. 

This is what Grant Robertson said in September last year: “There will be no new taxes or levies introduced in our first term of Government beyond those we have already announced.”

When challenged about this new tax, Ardern said it’s not new, the levy has been around for ages and National hiked it plenty when it was in government.

And she says it’s not a tax, it’s an excise.

It’s an excise tax.

And motorists may accept increasing it by 25 cents if it meant more money going on the roads they drive on. But the Government is saying we want to increase the cost of petrol by 25 cents a litre and slash spending on roads. That will infuriate a lot of people.

I cannot actually believe that this is the level of the argument we’re having. That is how crap the PM’s defence of this tax is.

It’s weak, totally flimsy. And you know what that tells you?

This is the day Labour lost the 2020 election. Because people don’t care what beltway issues Labour has to fight fires on but they do care when those issues start hitting them in the pocket.

And this issue is not just going to hit some of us in the pocket, it’s going to hit all of us in the pocket.

So when you fill your car up and you’re paying $2.30 instead of $2.10, you’ll know who to blame – Labour.

Taxcinda strikes again.