New Zealand introduces border clearance levy

Travelers going in and out of New Zealand will have to pay a new tax from January 1 next year to support the country's border control operations, the New Zealand government said Thursday.

The levy was expected to be around 16 NZ dollars (12 U.S. dollars) for arriving passengers and around 6 NZ dollars (4.40 U.S. dollars) for departing passengers, but the exact amounts would be subject to public consultation, Finance Minister Bill English said in a published speech on the annual Budget to Parliament.

The levy, expected to raise 100 million NZ dollars (73.27 million U.S. dollars) a year, would fund passenger-related biosecurity and customs activities that protected New Zealand from imported pests, diseases, illegal drugs and other threats.

"The government considers it fairer for the cost to fall on travelers, as happens in many other countries. A per-passenger levy also helps ensure that border services are funded to meet future demand," said English.

The levy would help meet growing passenger numbers, Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy said in a statement.

"Arriving air passenger volumes have grown by more than 18 percent from 4.4 million in 2009 to 5.2 million in 2014, and are expected to continue growing at around 3.5 percent each year," said Guy.

Other new funding for biosecurity would enable greater auditing of other countries' systems to ensure they are compliant with New Zealand's unique biosecurity requirements, he said.

Customs Minister Nicky Wagner said the levy would bring New Zealand in line with many other countries that recovered costs from passengers, including Australia, the United States, Britain and China.

The border clearance levy would be significantly lower than passenger charges levied by many of New Zealand's major trading partners, Wagner said in a statement. Endi