Saturday, May 1, 2010

RACQ supports "pay as you drive" tax

At 8c per kilometre, and the average annual kilometres travelled for the average person is 15,000 per annum... that would mean that you'd be paying $1,200.

Twenty thousand kilometres = 1,600

Each five thousand kilometres is equivalent to $400.

When I was working in Brisbane my travelling was more than 30,000ks per year which at 8 cents per kilometre would equal $2,400 per annum. For those who can least afford it, ie, those people who live outside the city area , where it is cheaper to buy/build, who may not have access to public transport and need to use their cars it would be a huge impost.

The RACQ supports this. I thought the RACQ was supposed to be there for motorists - they seem to be there for whatever green scheme takes the government's fancy.

At three cents per kilometre the rate would be $150/5000km.

So, what's your average kilometres travelled?

It's being branded as a method to combat road congestion, but how will it do that? Most people who drive now do it very carefully considering all things, including wasting time in traffic and the cost of parking and petrol.

To their credit the RACQ said that it would only support this tax if other areas of taxation of motorists were cut.

The Queensland government has received $920.4 million in vehicle registrations in the past 10 months, with its registration fees the highest of the Australia states, ranging between 17 per cent for four cylinder vehicles and 22 per cent for eight cylinders.

The federal government charges a fuel excise of 38.14 cents per litre, which already provides a way for motorists to pay more tax commiserate with kilometres travelled.
This generated $9.12 billion of the $15.5 billion collected from roads in 2005-06.

In a sample "per kilometre" pricing scheme put forward by the IPA which scraps all existing road charges, including vehicle registration, an average eight cents per kilometre charge has been proposed.
And, hey, what a surprise, they reckon they'll raise more than what they already raise with the current taxes and tariffs... a whole extra $4B, that's BILLION.

IPA executive director Brendan Lyon said its charges model showed it was possible to raise an extra $4 billion for infrastructure projects each year.
So, who's going to be paying? (Hint, anyone who travels any distance, anyone who purchases anything which needs to be transported distances....)

Read more here.

I really hope that the nongs who voted for the ALP in Qld and Federally have now woken from their torpor.

Update:

Come to think of it, this prototype of a flying mini... needs more research and development.


9 comments:

Boy on a bike said...

I used to do 30,000km a year, mainly for work. About 25,000 of that was out of the city. So how would a tax affect congestion in say Cootamundra (as a NSW example)?

kae said...

Boy
I think they're still determined to save the world from CO2 pollution.
They want to discourage people from using their cars so much.
Don't they already do that with their tax on petrol, which is a small fortune.

By the way, since Anna Bliar removed the rebate of 8c per litre for a tax Queenslanders didn't pay, but was collected for them, our petrol is usually averaging 15c more per litre than Sydney & Melbourne.

Bastards.

wayne Job Broadford Victoria said...

The GPS for miles covered will not be needed if this mob stays in power. The chip that is implanted at birth in the near future will allow them to moniter your exhalations for co2 tax. The methane tax will be hard on vegetarians as it is 10 times worse than co2 as a green house gas. If I as a engineer convert my car to run on electricity that I generate myself with a solar panel. Do I get an exemption. I bet not.

1735099 said...

"our petrol is usually averaging 15c more per litre than Sydney & Melbourne"
Fraid not, Kae.
Go to - http://motormouth.com.au/default_fl.aspx
where you will discover that on a random sampling of today's prices - Sydney: West Ryde (122.9)& Haberfield (132.5)
- Melbourne: North Melbourne (125.9) & Coburg North (134.9)
- Adelaide: Woodville West (131.7) & Henley Beach (134.5)
- Brisbane: Yeronga (121.9) & Wacol (125.7).
Brisbane is actually cheapest. If you want cheap petrol in Queensland buy it here in Toowoomba where we're currently paying under 120cpl if you shop around.

kae said...

17
I'll let you know how much I see it for today when I go to the Coast.
It never gets much below 129-131cpl here.
I took that 15c diffferenct from the morning show on ABC which uses a bloke from Motormouth I think to compare prices, and average them, in Brisbane.

Toowoomba isn't Queensland, and I said usually.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
kae said...

spam off

Anonymous said...

Go our wonderful education system. And what the hell do they teach "journalists" these days?
Re the quote from the Brisbane Times article.

"...to pay more tax commiserate with kilometres travelled." Commiserate?

Gawd 'elp us!

Regards
Sandi

kae said...

Hi Sandi
It only jumped out at me today...

Arrgh!

I guess the "journo" meant commensurate...

17
The petrol prices I saw on Sunday were: 135.9cpl, at 133.9cpl, 130.7cpl. Coming home Blacksoil westbound was 129.5cpl.