The Henry Tax Review has been told trucks should be charged the full cost of their road use and “it would be a good thing if trucking companies passed on the costs of increased levies to consumers.”
Other proposals include charging drivers a congestion tax, based on where and when they travel.
"[The aim is] generally to try to get to the point where we're charging people for the actual damage and costs of using roads - rather than fixed charges that are independent of the way they use roads," economics Professor Harry Clarke from LaTrobe University, one of the report's authors, said to the ABC.
"The technology exists now; telemetric devices, or essentially boxes that are inserted in vehicles. These can provide information for commercial trucking fleet operation, or they can provide information to regulators."
Professor Clarke also says it would be a good thing if trucking companies passed on the costs of increased levies to consumers.
"If trucking companies are using low-durability roads and imposing lots of costs on the community in terms of maintenance costs, then it means that the price of goods that they are transporting should be higher than they are," he said.
"They're not reflecting their full social costs. So the market wouldn't fail at all in that situation; that would be the sort of outcome that you'd hope with these charges.
"The idea of charging on the basis of weight is to encourage heavy-vehicle users of roads to use the roads sensibly; to use the most durable roads, or to make good economic decisions when they come to use roads that are of less than optimal kind of durability."
The Federal Opposition was not impressed by the report.
“Academics hand-picked by Treasury Secretary Ken Henry have put forward the idea that the tax on fuel bought by the average motorist should go up by 10 cents a litre, with extra costs imposed on trucks,” said the Leader of the Nationals and Shadow Transport Minister, Warren Truss.
“We know Labor lives and dreams the idea of new and increased taxes. The Keating Government promised at election time that it would not increase fuel taxes but at its very next budget massively increased fuel excise and indexed the tax. Rudd Labor proposes major increases in fuel costs through its CPRS taxes and is now obviously considering even more taxes on fuel.
“Last November, senior minister Stephen Conroy said the introduction of congestion charging was ‘a welcome step’. A few months earlier, Dr Henry himself alluded publicly to increased diesel fuel excise for heavy vehicle operators being a ‘pre-condition for other, more important, land transport reforms’.
“What these city-based pointy heads have forgotten is people living in regional Australia have to drive further each day to go to work, take their kids to school or got to the doctor, compared to their city cousins. In most cases, there is no public transport network to fall back on either.
“Why should country people pay more to drive on dirt roads?
“People who drive further are already paying more tax – that is what the existing fuel excise scheme of 38 cents per litre imposes. Increasing that excise would do nothing more than fill Treasury’s coffers. That is probably the Government’s plan, as it scrambles for a way to pay off its giant cash splashes.
“The extra cost of fuel always flows through to increased prices on everything we buy. The Coalition recognised this in 2001 when we put a freeze on fuel excise – a step which today saves motorists about 8 cents on every litre.
“The idea of every vehicle in Australia carrying a Government-monitored tracking device to track when and where they are travelling also causes very deep concern. Kevin Rudd as Big Brother is a frightening thought.
“The Government must immediately rule out these new tax slugs on every Australian,” Mr Truss said.
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