Fed: Truckies should be charged more for road use

AAP General News (Australia)
08-13-2009
Fed: Truckies should be charged more for road use

CANBERRA, Aug 13 AAP - Motorists should be taxed on how far they drive and truck drivers
should be charged more to pay for the damage their heavier vehicles do to roads, a new
report says.

The proposals form part of a paper commissioned for the review of the nation's tax
system chaired by Treasury Secretary Ken Henry.

The paper explores the costs of the existing system of road taxes and suggest how it
should be reformed.

Professor Harry Clarke and Dr David Prentice from La Trobe University's School of Economics
and Finance, who authored the pay, say congestion charges should also be levied on vehicles
in urban settings.

The the aim was to charge people for the costs of using roads and for the damage they
caused, rather than levying fixed charges independent of the way they use roads.

"The technology exists now - telemetric devices, or essentially boxes that are inserted
in vehicles," Professor Clarke told ABC Radio on Thursday.

"These can provide information for commercial trucking fleet operations, or they can
provide information to regulators."

It would be a good thing if trucking companies passed on the costs of increased levies
to consumers, he said

"If trucking companies are using low-durability roads and imposing lots of costs on
the community in terms of maintenance costs, then it means that the price of goods that
they are transporting should be higher than they are," Professor Clarke said.

"The idea of charging on the basis of weight is to encourage heavy-vehicle users of
roads to use the roads sensibly."

AAP cb/rl/ash

KEYWORD: ROADS

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