ATA calls for fuel tax amendment

The Australian Trucking Association has called on the Senate to pass changes to the Fuel Tax Act to protect small trucking businesses

Australia's peak trucking industry representative body, the Australian Trucking Association, is lobbying for the Senate to pass amendments to the Fuel Tax Act that protect small trucking firms from the ramifications of fuel tax indexation.

The ATA's Chief Executive, Stuart St Clair (pictured), has called on the Senate to pass the changes as a part of its submission to the Senate Economics Committee inquiry into the Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (2014 Measures No 6) Bill 2014.

"The Government has used what are called tariff proposals to increase the fuel tax rate from 38.143 cents per litre to 38.6 cents per litre," he said.

"The rate will be indexed in line with inflation on February 1 and August 1.

"The tariff proposals must be ratified by legislation within a year, but in the meantime they will create side effects for trucking operators and other businesses claiming fuel tax credits.

"Trucking businesses can claim fuel tax credits for the fuel they use. Their fuel tax credits are reduced by the road user charge, which is set in conjunction with state registration charges to recover the cost of the industry's impact on the road network.

"Because of the way the Fuel Tax Act is worded, tariff proposals do not increase the industry's entitlement to fuel tax credits, even though they effectively increase the fuel tax rate.

"If the Senate does not pass the bill, a representative single truck owner driver would have to pay an extra $750 in fuel tax by October 2015. A small fleet operator would have to pay an extra $4100, with a large operator with 160 trucks paying an additional $41,900.

"But an independent government body has concluded that the trucking industry is already overcharged by $200 million per year. The effective fuel tax rate paid by trucking operators increased 33 per cent from 2006 to 2013, even though CPI increased only 20 per cent.

"Small trucking businesses can't afford the cashflow burden of paying extra fuel tax on top of what they already pay, even though they would be able to claim the money back later if the legislation needed to ratify the tariff proposals was passed.

"The bill does not approve or ratify fuel tax indexation. Instead, the bill fixes the side effects of the Government's decision. I urge the Senate to support it."

ATA calls for fuel tax amendment

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