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Petrol taxes and car registration costs will be going up and New Zealanders will be paying more for treatment if they are injured in an accident.
The government says that is the price we have to pay for the country's "broken" accident compensation system.
But the call for cost-cutting comes amid revelations some Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) managers may be taking home fatter pay packets.
It cost about $3 billion to treat, rehabilitate and compensate injured New Zealanders last year.
The government says those costs are rising and services must be cut.
"This is just the reality that we are legally required to get the scheme on a firmer footing," says Prime Minister John Key.
But what is ACC doing to trim its own costs?
The number of ACC staff on salaries of more than $100,000 has increased by 67 to a total of 259.
Those earning more than $300,000 has doubled to 10.
And the chief executive has had a big pay rise, now taking home up to $560,000.
ACC Minister Nick Smith has asked for an explanation but understands that is because the figures now include superannuation too.
But it comes as we face big increases in ACC levies which the government collects from car registrations, petrol taxes and directly from Kiwis' pay packets.
"There will unquestionably be an increase but the sort of increase that's been floated over the weekend of 40-50% is ridiculous and unacceptable," Key told TV ONE's Breakfast.
New Zealanders will also be asked to pay more for treatment, with part-charges for physio and possibly also high-tech scans and home help.
Labour's ACC spokesman David Parker opposes curbing the scheme.
"If the scope of the scheme is reduced the costs don't go away, they just fall to the person who is injured, who can't get those costs reimbursed by accident compensation," says Parker.
ACC is already collecting more in levies, up half a billion dollars to just over $4 billion last year.
But the government needs even more to cover the planned move towards fully funding ACC.
That's making sure there is enough money in the pot now to cover the costs of existing claims over their lifetime.
To achieve that, it has got to cover a $13 billion gap between ACC's assets and its liabilities which are ballooning.
It hopes to ease the pain by spreading levy increases over the next 10 years.
