New car sales are tearing into the sunset, according to Australia’s peak automotive industry body, which says last month was the highest-selling April on record.
Single tax for motorists would promote equity and simplicity 05/05/2021|6min
A single tax for all road users put forward today by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries Chief Executive Tony Weber prioritises equity for road users over electric car incentives.
“It addresses the complexity of the current tax arrangements that cover both from the commonwealth and state level so there’s simplicity in this,” he told Sky News.
Mr Weber said the one tax for all road users causes an “equity issue” and any taxes should come directly from the amount of driving.
“Rather than having taxes like your annual registration fee which is the same regardless of whether you drove minimal kilometres in a year or you drive hundreds of thousands of kilometres.”
A Tesla electric charging station(Nine)
Older Australians who use their car less often would benefit most from the move.
Mr Weber also wants owners of electric cars to be rewarded as more get on the roads.
Other states have already implemented plans to tax low emission and hybrid vehicles almost three cents per kilometre to make for the loss in excise. Excise on fuel is about 12 billion dollars a year net; well put it another way, for every litre of petrol you buy, you re paying 43 cents in excise that is going to evaporate over time, Mr Weber said.
Queensland Transport Minister Mark Bailey.(Nine)
Car makers want to replace licence fees, rego and fuel excise with a tax on how far you drive
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The car industry is urging the federal government to lead a national overhaul of vehicle registration, stamp duty, licence fees and fuel excise and replace them with a single road-user charge to instead tax drivers for every kilometre they drive.
A body representing the major car manufacturers wants Canberra to intervene before several state governments progress with their own plans to levy electric vehicles per kilometre and capitalise on the consumer take-up of new technology vehicles to reform several inefficient taxes on drivers.
The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) is praising the Victorian government for its ‘balanced’ approach supporting electric vehicle owners, amid wide scale criticism of Australia’s lack of incentives for the purchase of a new EV.
Recently, the Victorian government outlined a $100 million plan to kick-start electric vehicle ownership in the state, providing buyers with up to $3000 toward their purchase of an EV, under a $69,000 vehicle price threshold.
The Andrews government announced that 20,000 subsidy packages in total will be made available to Victorian car-buyers, with the first 4000 already available.
The FCAI’s chief executive, Tony Weber, said that the organisation welcomes the Victorian government’s approach, which outlines a number of incentives for the purchase of a new electric vehicle, as well as the development of more infrastructure to support electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles.