Petrol tax ‘should pay for Marsden’

Press, 31 May 1985, Page 19

Petrol tax ‘should pay for Marsden’

PA Wellington Money to pay for the Marsden Point oil refinery expansion should come from the Government’s tax on petrol sales, the Automobile Association has been told. The association’s president, Mr Ivan Jamieson, said at the A.A.’s national executive meeting that the last petrol price increase on Anzac Day of 10 per cent to 99c a litre was generally accepted by the community, which seemed to be conditioned to the rising price. Mr Jamieson said said the price would have been higher had the petrol purnps at service stations been able to be set for a three-figure

price. When the pumps could handle a petrol price of more than $l, the price would rise again, he said. An executive member, Mr Tony Guy, said Marsden Point expansion costs should be paid from the Consolidated Account instead of increasing the petrol levy. Another executive member, Mr Owen Gimblett, said it seemed clear that a further 6c petrol price rise was coming. This could be accommo-

dated from the 9.8 c that the Government took from every litre now sold, he said.