In the Hume electorate, made up of 17,000 kilometres of rural roads interconnecting popular towns and villages such as Appin, Bundanoon, Crookwell, Oak Dale, Taralga, Wingello to main commercial areas such as Goulburn and Camden, Mr Taylor said many average earning families who usually drive large vehicles would be impacted by the proposed tax.
“The price of Australians’ favourite SUVs, utes and 4WDs will be jacked up by thousands of dollars under Labor’s proposed carbon tax on vehicles,” Mr Taylor, the Shadow Treasurer, said.
“Industry analysis of Labor’s family car tax predicts the cost of some popular models such as the Toyota Landcruiser could rise by as much as $25,000.
“Labor’s newest tax will put too many cars out of reach of the average family budgets in Hume.”
A public consultation on the Albanese government’s proposed New Vehicle Efficiency Standard or NVES closed on March 4.
Once implemented, the NVES will encourage global vehicle suppliers to Australia to sell more cleaner and cheaper cars to run such as a range of electric vehicles or EVs.
Last month, the Department of Infrastructure and Transport released its consultation paper, Cleaner, Cheaper to Run Cars: An Australian New Vehicle Efficiency Standard Consultation Impact Analysis which details the economic modelling of the NVES as a way to reduce the projected 369 million tonnes of carbon emissions from transport by 2050 and provide
Australians more choices on cars they can use for private and work purposes.
The findings of the paper came from the first consultation on NVES in May last year participated by 2,700 influential organisations such as the Electric Vehicles Council, and individuals, the department said on its website about the NVES.
However, during a cost-of-living crisis, Mr Taylor said, “the last thing people want to hear is that the Albanese Labor government is going to increase the cost of family cars and utes with a great big tax.”
“Labor’s family car tax will reduce the choice of vehicles available to locals in this region, force up the price of Australia’s top-selling cars and put local jobs at risk as manufacturers threaten to pull out of the market.”
Last year, Mr Taylor said, the three favourite vehicles for families and workers in his electorate are Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger and Toyota Rav4.
According to Mr Taylor’s analysis of the proposed tax modelling on fuel emitting large cars, each of these popular cars will incur a penalty of $14,490 for Toyota Hi-Lux, $17,950 for Ford Ranger and $11,020 on Toyota RAV 4 because they use petrol fuel.
Mr Taylor also said Labor’s family car and ute tax will threaten 18,909 local jobs across NSW which will have a disastrous impact on local dealerships right across this region.
As of January 2023, the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Statistical Report showed NSW has more registered petrol-fuelled vehicles on the road at 6.1 million, with a little over 1 million light commercial vehicles and 108,016 heavy trucks.
EV’s registered across Australia account for 362,700 registered vehicles or 31 percent more from 2022, according to the bureau.
Nearly 69 percent of 21.2 million registered vehicles across Australia are petrol-powered vehicles while 28.3 percent are using diesel, the bureau data showed.
