how much tax is on petrol in nz

Here’s a clear, up‑to‑date style explainer on how much tax is on petrol in NZ and what that actually means at the pump.

How much tax is on petrol in NZ?

In mid‑2024–2025 terms, the core petrol tax at the pump is a bit over NZ$1.20 per litre in total , once you include fuel excise, levies and GST.

Most people quote the headline fuel excise of about 70 cents per litre , but that’s only part of the story – other small levies and then 15% GST (including “tax on tax”) push the total tax take per litre well above that.

Quick Scoop

Core fuel excise (for roads): 70.024 cents per litre.

ACC levy: 6 cents per litre.

Local authorities fuel tax: 0.66 cents per litre on regular petrol.

Petroleum or engine fuels monitoring levy: about 0.69 cents per litre.

Sub‑total of fixed per‑litre fuel taxes: around 77–78 cents per litre (before GST).

Then 15% GST is charged on the entire pump price , including those fuel excises (so you pay tax on the tax).

The AA calculated that, at a typical mid‑2024 petrol price of around $2.75 per litre , over $1.20 per litre was going to the government in excise, levies and GST combined.

In everyday language: if you’re paying roughly $2.70–$3.00 per litre, taxes and levies make up close to half – or more – of the price you see on the sign.

What makes up “petrol tax” exactly?

There are two big layers:

Fixed cents‑per‑litre fuel taxes
GST (15%) on the whole price, including those fuel taxes

1. Fixed cents‑per‑litre bits

According to official transport and energy data, the standard petrol tax components for unleaded 91 and 95 include:

National Land Transport Fund
- 70.024 cents per litre.
- Main fund for building and maintaining state highways and local roads.

ACC motor vehicle levy
- 6 cents per litre.
- Helps pay for accident compensation for road crashes.

Local authorities fuel tax
- 0.66 cents per litre for standard petrol.
- Goes to certain local authorities for transport‑related purposes.

Petroleum or engine fuels monitoring levy
- Around 0.69 cents per litre.
- Funds monitoring and regulation of fuel quality and markets.

Add those together and you get about 77–78 cents per litre in fixed taxes and levies, before GST.

Some regions can also have extra local fuel levies (for example, Auckland has historically had its own regional levy), which can bump the effective local tax per litre even higher, though those settings can change over time.

2. GST – the “tax on a tax”

On top of those per‑litre taxes, you pay 15% GST on the entire pump price , and that pump price already includes all the excise and levies mentioned above.

The AA highlighted that this structure effectively creates a “tax on a tax” , and estimated that removing GST from the excise portion alone could cut prices by nearly 35 cents per litre at mid‑2024 price levels.

How much of the pump price is tax?

Let’s anchor it with the numbers the AA and media used for mid‑2024:

Example pump price: about $2.75 per litre
Total government take (excise, levies, GST): over $1.20 per litre
That’s roughly 44%+ of the total price going in taxes and levies at that time.

Bloomberg and local coverage summarised it more simply as “about 70 cents a litre” of petrol tax , referring to just the core excise, but confirmed that the full tax load is significantly higher once you add levies and GST.

Recent changes and latest news context

Temporary fuel tax cuts were in place during 2022–2023 to ease cost‑of‑living pressures, but they ended on 30 June 2023, and petrol excise duty reverted to the standard 70.024 cents per litre.

In 2025, the government announced plans for a major reform to replace petrol tax with expanded road user charges (RUC) for all light vehicles , with legislation targeting 2026 and implementation from 2027 or later.

Until that new system actually starts, the existing excise‑plus‑GST setup still applies , so the per‑litre tax structure described above is what drivers are effectively paying.

This has become a trending discussion topic in NZ whenever petrol prices spike, with public debate over whether the system is fair, whether GST on fuel excise should be removed, and how road funding should work in a future with more EVs and hybrids.

Mini FAQ style breakdown

Is it just “70 cents per litre” in tax?

Not really. The core excise is ~70 cents , but when you add other levies and GST, the real tax take is over $1.20 per litre at typical recent prices.

Does the tax rate change with the price?

The cents‑per‑litre excise and levies are fixed numbers , set by regulation.

The GST portion grows in dollars when the pump price rises , because it’s 15% of the full price (fuel + excise + levies).

Are they really going to end petrol tax?

The government has announced a plan to phase out traditional petrol excise in favour of wider road user charges, but it relies on legislation and implementation from around 2027 onwards, so for now petrol tax is still very much in effect.

Simple HTML table of the main NZ petrol taxes

html

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Component</th>
      <th>Approx. rate (cents per litre)</th>
      <th>What it funds</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>National Land Transport Fund</td>
      <td>70.024</td>
      <td>State highways and local road funding [web:1][web:3][web:7]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>ACC Motor Vehicle Levy</td>
      <td>6</td>
      <td>Accident Compensation for road injuries [web:3][web:7]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Local Authorities Fuel Tax</td>
      <td>0.66</td>
      <td>Local transport projects and related services [web:3][web:7]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Petroleum or Engine Fuels Monitoring Levy</td>
      <td>0.69</td>
      <td>Fuel market and quality monitoring [web:7]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Subtotal fixed fuel taxes</td>
      <td>≈77–78</td>
      <td>Per-litre taxes before GST [web:3][web:7]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>GST</td>
      <td>15% of final price</td>
      <td>Applied to fuel price including all excise and levies (“tax on tax”) [web:3][web:9]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Total government take (typical 2024 price)</td>
      <td>>120</td>
      <td>Combined excise, levies and GST at ~NZ$2.75/L [web:3][web:9]</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

TL;DR: If you’re wondering “how much tax is on petrol in NZ” right now, the practical answer is: around 77–78 cents per litre in fixed fuel taxes, plus 15% GST on top of everything, adding up to more than $1.20 per litre in tax at common price levels.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.

how much tax is on petrol in nz