Small economics lesson in the dangers of making stuff up as you go along. 

As part of the new light rail system for Auckland, the Government are going to potentially tax people close to the stations $1000 a year. 

It's called a Value Capture Tax. It's an invented tax and is based on the premise that because you live close to a train station, the value of your house will go up, and people will build things close by you. Trouble with it is that might be true, but then it might not be. In other words, you might just be paying $1000 for nothing. 

Tax on a promise or theory is dangerous. Income tax is only applied when you have actually earned some money. They don't say "give us 39 cents and hopefully you can go and earn a dollar." They take the money once the dollar is in. 

Public transport is a much about ideology as it is about reality. Cycle lanes are the same, as are bus lanes. Planners of a certain persuasion love them. 

But as Covid has taught us once offices opened again, buses never came back to what they were, trains certainly didn’t come back. The only thing that bounced were roads. You would be better taxing people who live near an onramp. 

Another great failing of the whole public transport obsession has been that it's based on the idea of Sydney, London, Paris, or New York, forgetting that even Auckland at 1.5 million isn't a fraction of what the world's major cities are. So as such you're trying to be something you never can. 

As it turns out I live near a railway station, I've never used it, never will. Whether we like it or not, public transport has never really been embraced by the masses. Because of that you shouldn’t be taxing people because the so-called value has never materialised. 

On a road toll, you are only tolled if you use the road. No road, no toll. Why then, are you charged a capture tax if nothing is captured? 

A lot of water to go under the bridge yet, of course. As I've said before, I doubt the specific light rail project we are talking about will ever get off the ground. 

But the red flag here, is not Auckland and light rail, it's the concept of a new tax. Never underestimate the power of more free money for a politician.