National leader Simon Bridges believes the majority of Aucklanders don't want to pay more at the pump to fund the fixing of the city's transport system.
He's promised to overturn it, should National win the next election.
"Regional fuel taxes are unfair on New Zealanders. They are regressive, and hit poorer New Zealanders the hardest. The fuel taxes the Government has announced will leave a typical Auckland family around $700 a year out of pocket," he said on Monday morning.
"The regional fuel tax is simply punishing Aucklanders for the Government and the Council’s lack of fiscal discipline."
Auckland Council at the weekend released the results of its consultation on the fuel tax, expected to be about 11c per litre. Of the almost 21,000 submissions, 48 percent were opposed and 46 percent in favour.
"Despite what Phil Goff and Phil Twyford have said, Aucklanders don't want it," Mr Bridges told The AM Show on Monday. "They don't believe in it."
A decision on whether to implement the tax will be made today by Auckland Council. It will be on top of the Government's proposed petrol tax increase.
"In this environment, where frankly you've got record investments already... you don't need new taxes," said Mr Bridges. "You just manage [the economy] well, you don't do the dumb stuff."
The council says there is public support for the regional fuel tax, which will help fund the 10-year transport plan Mayor Phil Goff and Transport Minister Phil Twyford unveiled last week.
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While submissions on the fuel tax are likely to have been made by those with the most interest in the topic, a scientific poll of nearly 4000 ordinary Aucklanders by Colmar Brunton found 52 percent of the city's residents back it, with only 43 percent opposed.
"There were just under 3000 bulk submissions put in by one lobby group designed to skew the poll," Mr Goff told TVNZ.
National says Forest and Bird and Generation Zero also made bulk submissions.
Those submissions came from the Auckland Ratepayers' Alliance - a right-wing lobby group linked to the Taxpayers' Union - which frequently criticises council spending.
National increased petrol taxes six times when it was last in Government, about 3c each time, but campaigned on using existing revenue sources for new projects at the last election.
Mr Bridges is set to deliver a speech on his economic vision in New Lynn on Monday morning, where it's expected he'll hint at a no-new-taxes policy for the 2020 election.
"If you manage the economy well, if you don't have bad spending you can do investment and you don't need to be taxing more in an environment of growth like we've got right now," he told The AM Show.
"The other thing I'll be talking about is the fact actually we understand - it's Kiwis, it's chippies, it's hairdressers, it's IT professionals who are the ones who drive an economy - not politicians."
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