ATA: continue road user charge freeze

In its pre-Budget submission, the Australian Trucking Association has called on the Federal Government to maintain its freeze on the road user charge for the trucking industry.

The charge was frozen for 2014-15 after the National Transport Commission agreed last year that the truck industry is already overcharged.

The Chief Executive of the Australian Trucking Association, Stuart St Clair (pictured), said continuing the freeze would partially offset the current overcharging.

"The trucking industry pays for its use of the road through heavy vehicle registration fees and a road user charge on fuel, currently 26.14 cents per litre," he said.

"The industry has been overcharged since 2007 because this system underestimates the number of trucks on the road.

"In 2014-15, the trucking industry was overcharged by more than $200 million.

"The independent body responsible for setting the road user charge, the National Transport Commission, last year recommended changes to the way this charge is calculated to eliminate over-recovery.

"The state transport ministers put off implementing the NTC recommendations until 2016, although the Australian Government acknowledged the over-recovery and decided to freeze the road user charge in 2014-15.

"The trucking industry is still being overcharged. As a result, the Government should continue to freeze the road user charge until this overcharging has been addressed."

The ATA submission also calls upon the Government to increase the small business threshold from an annual turnover of $2 million to $3 million, with the possibility of extending it to $5 million.

"The Board of Taxation has acknowledged that the small business threshold has not been updated since 2007 and is outdated," he said.

Mr St Clair said the current definition placed an unjust and costly tax administration burden on smaller truck businesses with high turnovers but low margins.

Click here to view the full ATA submission.