4x4 LEVY
I could not believe my eyes this morning when I collected my mail from my
post office box. As I was expecting my new rego papers to come in I was not disappointed as they were there along with other mail and the usual supply of junk mail.
Looking at my papers to see to what degree the rego on my
old truck had gone up by I saw that this time there was an attachment to the papers. Boldly printed at the top of the page is FOUR WHEEL DRIVE LEVY.
Our Government, in their wisdom, have introduced a bill into the Parliament, to collect in the form of a levy, a further $50 per year, from the owners of four wheel drive vehicles. This levy will apply to ALL Residents of South Australia and ALL Travellers passing through this State whether on holiday or just in transit. Exemptions do apply to In Transit 4x4’s but a Statutory Declaration has to be made by the driver or owner of the vehicle to state that. Four Wheel Drives registered with Government Licence Plates are also to be exempt.
The levy will be collected by Service Stations or Fuel Outlets if they notice that your vehicle is not displaying a window sticker with the relevant year stamped on it. As an incentive to facilitate this new ‘IMPOST’, the government is offering the collectors of the levy a 10% discount to collect the levy. In other words when you go to fuel up, the servo will be getting a once off $5 extra from you every year. Imagine how much money they are going to make!
The letter goes on to explain that due to the incredibly high number( according to them) of four wheel drive vehicles using the State roads on a regular basis and during peak holiday seasons, our outback bitumen roads as
well as dirt roads and tracks are suffering enormous damage and the upkeep on them has risen by 200%. An example given is the new
Orroroo to
Hawker road in the
Flinders Ranges where the bitumen is now breaking up despite the fact that Road Construction Company who built the road, having received an Engineering Best Practice Award from their peers for the quality of construction in 2003. The data on four wheel drives had been collected in the 2002/2003 financial year by those Vehicle Counter wires which are placed across the road and by a team of government employees who sit on the side of the roads counting vehicles and making notes. They have stated that the
Orroroo-
Hawker road had been used by 326,014 four wheel drive vehicles during the time of the survey.
The letter waffles on about other things as usual but at least there is body to which comments or representations can be made. Don’t know if this will help as the government states that it wishes enact the legislation by 1 July 2004.
You may write to The Chairperson, Four Wheel Drive Transport Levy Committee, G.P.O.Box X03,
Adelaide, 5000, South Australia or ring Freecall 1800 846 980. But you have to be quick as no submissions will be entertained after 1 May 2004. I rang the number but got put in to a queue listening to inane music and every short while a voice would say “Your call is important to us………etc”. I gave up after ten minutes. Will try again later.
My rego is already $550 per year. I don’t know if I can afford another $50 on top of it. But then again it is only just under a dollar per week extra. Nothing is mentioned of the thousands of semi's, B doubles and Road Trains which ply our outback roads. Maybe we are just a soft target ready for milking.