Rail 2000 calls for action on Diesel Fuel Tax

[arthur marsh <marsh@ties.itu.int>]

Rail 2000 calls for action on Diesel Fuel Tax. 

Adelaide, May 17, 1999.

At present the Federal Government plans to reduce the excise on diesel
fuel for heavy road users, whilst retaining it for rail users.

Max Michell, chair of Rail 2000, commenting on the government's proposals
said,

"The end result will inevitably be a shift of long haul freight off rail
and on to road, accelerating demands for spending from the (un-funded)
public purse for road upgrading, and multiplying the demands on health
care, emergency services, road maintenance and the environment. 

Although Australia was granted higher green house gas emission targets at
Kyoto (in contradistinction to all other developed nations), it is quite
certain that the global community did not intend that this be translated
into total indifference to fuel conservation and greenhouse gas emission
management.

The opportunity is ripe to return equity and logic to the fuel tax debate,
either by dropping it entirely, or more pragmatically to use the
opportunity to introduce mass-distance charging system (as currently used
in New Zealand) for heavy trucks so as to recover the costs for road
usage that they currently receive as hidden subsidies. 

Even the Federal Government's own peak road transport authority has
supported a mass-distance charging system, but to no avail up to this
point.

The fuel tax proposals are portrayed as politically aligned to supporting
the rural sector. It is quite practical to "fence off" fuel benefits to
rural producers (as is already the case) if that is the targeted group,
but this must not be at the expense of redressing the serious imbalance in
land transport funding and planning now so evident in this country. 

A National Land Transport Plan, as a driver of logical and efficient
transport policy is long overdue. If transport planning was the measure of
a developed nation, Australia would most definitely miss out.

It is worth noting that a major component of the Government's target rural
group, grain growers, who rail up to 15 million tonnes of grain for export
each year will be disadvantaged if the current fuel tax proposals are
allowed to go ahead.

A GST may be desirable as part of an efficient taxation system, but the
accompanying diesel fuel tax proposals will certainly fail any and every
measure of efficiency."

It is urgent that the Federal Government be brought to its senses to
encourage energy efficient, environmentally-friendly land transportation
by removing hidden subsidies and ensuring that revenue collected from
transport users is based fairly on the government's costs in providing the
transport infrastructure and coverage of externalities such as
environmental damage.

Contact your local Federal member, Government and Opposition transport,
environmental and other relevant portfolio holders to voice your concerns
about the current proposals and to encourage ways of promoting efficient,
safe and environmentally-friendly land transport.

An Australasian Railways Association fact sheet from 1997 on diesel fuel
excise is available at http://www.users.on.net/rail2000/fact4.htm

For more information on Rail 2000, see http://www.users.on.net/rail2000/
or email rail2000@adelaide.on.net

Posted on behalf of Rail 2000 by Arthur Marsh. Any errors are my own.