Gillard smacks LPG drivers for ‘doing the right thing’
27th May, 2011
“AROUND 700,000 motorists – along with their efforts to cut CO2 emissions – have been sideswiped by the Gillard Government’s bid to ram through a new 12.5 cents per litre tax, plus GST, on LPG,” Leader of the Nationals Warren Truss said today.“It’s a glaring hypocrisy. On one hand, the government enticed drivers to go with gas, now comes the other hand to smack them with a new tax. Having made the switch to gas, consumers will be shocked by the government’s latest tax grab and the LPG industry will be reeling.
“It’s a bizarre, counter-intuitive twist from a government that claims the moral high-ground on environmental matters. LPG is a clean fuel. The Gillard Government is now penalising people it should be encouraging and rewarding.
“Adding insult to injury, Labor is singling out LPG having shelved plans to tax ethanol and biofuels, and imposing the new tax at the same time as Ford and Holden are putting out new technology LPG vehicles on the market.
“This tax leap – from zero to 12.5 centres per litre over five years – will trap around 700,000 motorists, including families who can ill-afford yet another Gillard tax slug, a fleet of small businesses, and, notably, the majority of taxi drivers.
“When we were in government, we drove programs to help people with LPG conversion grants for new and used vehicles. It was the sound, environmentally-responsible thing to do. Now Labor has halved and capped that program, and will now tax people who have made the conscious decision to do the right thing for the environment.
“The tax will be the death knell for the $300 million LPG conversion industry and its 2,500 employees, which have been hung out to dry by this government.
“Labor’s craving for new taxes is akin to a junkie looking for their next hit. What will Labor tax next? All this is on top of the all-pervasive carbon tax and the hikes it will impose on the cost of everything.”
[ENDS]
