Geoff Gwilym

THE Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce (VACC) has made yet another attempt to penetrate the Coalition government over the continuation of the luxury car tax (LCT) by writing to the minister for trade, tourism and investment calling for an end to the tax.

The CEO of the VACC, Geoff Gwilym, sought a sympathetic ear of the minister for trade on the basis that the LCT was an impediment to free trade and should be removed under trade rules.

Mr Gwilym said in his letter: “VACC notes recent commentary from you on discussions with the UK and, in particular, for post-Brexit negotiations on a free trade agreement.”

He said the VACC “was continually perplexed by statements made by the Australian government in relation to free trade agreements, of which six have been been achieved since 2013”.

“All of these agreements have failed to remove the luxury tax on vehicles,” Mr Gwilym said.

In his letter, he pointed out that the LCT, while hitting urban Australians, was a particular burden on regional and rural Australians.

“Government should be aware that in many regional locations, properties are large and often situated in difficult terrains. Often this requires the use of a heavy or 4WD vehicle which invariably falls into the LCT tax threshold,” Mr Gwilym said.

“In effect, this penalises regional Australians and even those in metropolitan areas buying larger vehicles are often captured by this unfair and unjustifiable tax.

“For many years VACC has implored government to remove the Luxury car tax on vehicles.”

Mr Gwilym pointed out that the GST should be a sufficient tax collection device because the more expensive the vehicle, the higher the GST it attracts. He said that levying LCT and GST was double taxation.

“VACC urges the minister, in his dialogue on free trade agreements, to remove this barrier to importation of vehicles which also creates a burden to Australian families,” Mr Gwilym said.

By John Mellor