Luxury Car Tax on the chopping board as Federal Government eyes trade negotiations with Europe

Australia’s controversial Luxurious Automobile Tax (LCT) is likely to be abolished as share of the newly reelected Albanese authorities’s makes an attempt to negotiate beneficial switch cases with Europe within the face of perilous US switch tariffs and global financial uncertainty.

A file printed in The Australian claims that “a source near the Prime Minister” has printed that the Federal Authorities is “willing to dump the [LCT] tax” in switch for “better procure admission to for Australia’s agricultural exports”.

In truth it’s being proposed that abolishing LCT is a bargaining chip within the Australian authorities’s hopes to stable free switch with Europe.

It appears as a response to the EU’s request for global help to help its increasingly extra struggling automobile industry negotiate the challenges of US switch tariffs to boot to increased rivals from Chinese language carmakers.

LCT modified into once launched in 2001 as protectionism for the Australian manufacturing industry, which ceased in 2017. In the years since, it’s been rumoured that the controversial tax may perhaps perchance perhaps be removed but it remains applied to as we state.

The 33 p.c tax is at the moment applied to autos with the dutiable impress above a $80,567 threshold, or above $91,387 for “gas efficient” autos with a claimed gas employ below 7.0L/100km.

The tax originally targeted luxury European autos from the likes of Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz as a counter namely to Holden and Ford Australia devices. Nonetheless, inflationary impression over the years now sees mainstream devices equivalent to Toyota Prado and Hyundai Palisade enviornment to the LCT.

In conserving with frequent estimates that LCT has and continues to make a contribution $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion to the authorities coffers each year – it’s unclear if and how the deficit will be offset with other taxes handed on to Australian motorists.

The file in The Australian suggests that an unnamed interior source printed that Europe has asked the federal authorities to “urge issues up” as the EU makes an attempt to counteract US switch tariffs at the moment coming into force now.

Additional, the proposed elimination of LCT appears to be one in every of a quantity of solutions from the Albanese authorities to stable beneficial switch cases in a single other country, including minerals switch with Asia, namely India.