Posted by Rita Mu
The chairman of the Australian Trucking Association (ATA), David Simon, has been appointed to the Federal Government’s Tax Forum, to be held in Canberra from 4 to 5 October 2011.
The Government has invited 184 representatives of the public, business, unions and governments, as well as academics and other tax experts, to attend the forum, which will debate priorities for reforming Australia’s tax and transfer system.
The forum will consider road charging and other environmental and social taxes on the afternoon of 4 October.
Simon said he would argue for the ATA’s plan to reform the way trucks are charged for their use of the road system.
“At present, trucking operators are charged through an effective fuel tax of 23.1 cents per litre, as well as very high registration charges,” he said. “For example, the registration charge on a nine-axle B-double is $15,708.
Simon said registration fees were too high and should be reviewed to remove the disadvantage faced by operators using B-doubles, which can carry more freight.
“The charges are fixed, so they don’t vary with the distance trucks travel, and there is no link between where operators use their vehicles and road funding,” he said.
“…As a longer term measure, the ATA has proposed moving to fuel based charging. This would collect the same amount of money as the existing system, but would see truck and trailer registration charges reduced to about $400.
“The effective fuel tax, or road user charge, would be increased to compensate for the reduction and would be levied on trucks at two separate rates, depending on their size. There would be a special fund so local councils and other road asset managers could upgrade their roads to handle safer trucks with greater capacity.
An alternative option being considered by the Government is mass-distance-location pricing, where operators of trucks fitted with regulatory GPS tracking systems receive a bill based on where their trucks have travelled and their weight.
But Simon criticised the method, saying it would cost operators more to drive on rural roads than on major highways because of their lighter construction.
“Mass-distance-location pricing would increase freight costs in rural areas,” he said. “It would be a compliance nightmare, and would breach one of the fundamental principles of tax reform: making the tax system simpler.”
Image: truck-industry-council.org