Fuel support limited to minority of working families

Summarised by Centrist

The government has announced a fuel assistance package that will give about 143,000 families an extra $50 a week, while about 14,000 more will receive a reduced amount starting April 7. 

The support is limited to families with dependent children in which at least one parent is in paid work and neither parent receives a main benefit. Beneficiaries and superannuitants will not get the extra payment, with the government saying their payments will still be adjusted from April 1 under the normal annual process. 

In the 2025/26 tax year, the income cut-off for the credit is about $89,000 for a family with one child, $112,000 for two children and $135,000 for three children. 

The payment will last for one year or until the price of 91-octane petrol falls below $3 a litre for four consecutive weeks. The package is expected to cost $373 million. 

The announcement comes after petrol prices reached $4 a litre in some Auckland suburbs over the weekend, with the national average at $3.30 a litre for 91 and $3.61 a litre for 98. 

Editor’s note: Roughly 157,000 working families with children will receive some level of support. Against about 2.06 million households nationwide, that means roughly 92% get no direct help at all.

In Auckland, where housing remains among the least affordable in the country, many middle-income families above the cut-off will receive no assistance. 

At $3.30 a litre, the government is taking about $1.20 a litre in official taxes and levies on 91 petrol. If the pump price jumps to $4.00, that rises to about $1.30 a litre because GST climbs with inflation, even though the core fuel taxes are fixed. However, Willis claims the overall increase will be offset by reduced demand. 

Read more over at The NZ Herald

_{Receive our free newsletter here}