Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US Ambassador Kevin Rudd are among the first Australian figures to remark on US President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 race. Albanese shared Biden’s official statement on X, thanking Biden for his “leadership and ongoing service”. Seemingly reflecting on his own experiences as PM, Kevin Rudd opened his statement by saying “Leadership can be lonely”.
Australian taxpayers lost out on a quarter of a billion dollars in revenue in 2023 thanks to a generous tax loophole for “big, dumb” American-style utes, a report says. Large utes such as those made by Chevrolet and Ram are being subsidised as they are exempt from the Luxury Car Tax while contributing to higher carbon emissions, road damage and serious safety concerns, according to a report by think tank the Australia Institute. The “loophole” cost the Australian public $250 million in foregone revenue in 2023 alone, while other imported cars valued above $81,000 continue to be subject to the tax.
A Ram truck stopped over a pedestrian crossing in Melbourne’s CBD. Credit: Joe Armao The exemption applies to any vehicle that can carry twice the weight in payload that it can carry in people, regardless of what it is used for. “The Australian public is subsidising big, dumb utes by hundreds of millions of dollars each year,” Australia Institute research director Rod Campbell said.
“These vehicles are damaging roads, reducing safety and increasing emissions, yet they are given a massive tax break.” Loading The vehicles, categorised as “full-size 4X4 utes”, are one of the fastest-growing market segments, increasing by 21.4 per cent in 2023.
The report said the tax breaks are leading to huge utes being more economically attractive than other similarly priced cars. It compared a luxury hybrid sedan worth $133,000 and a luxury pick-up truck priced at $138,000 before on-road costs, and found that after tax the hybrid ended up costing $149,000, or $11,000 more than the ute, which was exempt. “Even if a purchaser chose an electric alternative, making it eligible for the higher fuel efficiency threshold, the tax would still likely make the ute cheaper,” the report said.
Pricier vehicles magnified the impact of the tax exemption with one ute avoiding more than $50,000 in tax. AAP Good morning and welcome to today’s national news blog. My name is Josefine Ganko.
I’ll be leading our live coverage through the first half of the day. It’s Monday, July 22. Here’s what’s making news this morning.
US President Joe Biden has dropped out of the 2024 race , throwing his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris. Head here for rolling updates on our live US politics blog . The federal government will fall 260,000 homes short of its 1.
2 million target by the end of the decade, with warnings the nation faces chronic housing affordability problems. A former union boss has backed the case for federal action to clean up the CFMEU and cut ties to organised crime while labelling calls for deregistration “delusional”. Oscar Piastri has joined an elite list of Australian Formula 1 race winners, after clinching his maiden victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
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