Letter: How we used to pay for infrastructure

Last updated 12:00 19/03/2010

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OPINION: Political reporter Colin Espiner displays his youth when he says SuperGold card users enjoy infrastruture that they never paid for (March 15). He also enjoys the use of infrastructure he never paid for.

He obviously doesn't know that, before 1960, Wellington Airport was at Paraparaumu, the Wellington motorway started at Ngauranga Gorge, the Desert Road was unsealed, and the Aratiatia, Ohakuri, Whakamaru, Maraetai stage 2 and Waipa dams didn't exist. There were no coal-fired, gas-fired or thermal power plants ... I could go on.

The great leap in constructing dams, roads, motorways, bridges, railway lines, harbours, airports, irrigation schemes, rural water supply schemes, river protection, and Think Big occurred between 1960 and 1984. This was all funded by taxes of up to 66 cents in the dollar, plus sales tax on an extremely wide range of household goods, and import duties.

Espiner has no idea how much he owes to his forebears. I hope his comment was just a smart crack.

TREVOR J DANIELL

Raumati South

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