LCT must go: VACC

The Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce wants to see Luxury Car Tax disappear in 2019.

The VACC is calling on federal government ministers and their opposition shadows to abolish the ‘tax on tax’ as both the coalition and Labor prepare for a May election.

VACC chief executive Geoff Gwilym says the impost has been a plight on consumers for long enough.

“Luxury car tax has been around for some time in Australia,” he says.

“I wrote to Simon Birmingham, the minister for trade, this week and asked, given he’s making lots of announcements about free trade deals, ‘when are they going to remove LCT from Australia?'” Gwilym says.

The VACC says it would like to see action taken on the contentious Luxury Car Tax, as the government continues to talk about Australia’s trade deals with Asia, the UK and the United Arab Emirates in recent weeks.

“There’s been six trade deals done since 2013, none of those so-called free trade deals have removed LCT,” Gwilym reminds.

“The government pick up $650 million from consumers and it slows down the sale of new vehicles.

“We will continue to ask this question to the government, we want LCT removed, there’s no reason for it to be there.”

Minister for trade Simon Birmingham has been in the USA, the UAE, Belgium, Switzerland and the UK throughout January talking about trade with the Middle East and in the wake of Brexit, while assistant trade minister Mark Coulton tweeted about the cost of Tim Tams in Toyko as a result of free trade agreements.

AutoTalk has contacted minster Birmingham’s office for comment.