Crazy luxury car tax figures

[PranK]

https://www.caradvice.com.au/729414/exclusive-toyota-customers-pay-more-luxury-car-tax-than-owners-of-porsche-ferrari-lamborghini-maserati-rolls-royce-bentley-and-audi-bmw-and-lexus/

 

This is absurd! A LandCruiser attracts more lct than a bunch of Audis!

What a ridiculous tax. I hope we do sign free trade with the EU as they may request lct be abolished.

 

[GTSBoy]

I don't have a problem with the LCT.  The exemptions that the Euros are getting are because they have low fuel consumption figures.  the big Toyos that everyone is bleating about use HU-f**kING-MUNGOUS amounts of fuel.  If people want to buy their bro-dozers, then they can pay for their bro-dozers.

[Leroy Peterson]

I just find the title of the tax misleading. Is it for luxury cars or just any car retailing for over $66k?

People want to tow their big boats/caravans/horse floats/hay bails/water tanks.

You would think a luxury car is defined as a car which is substantially better equipped and substantially more expensive than cars that do a particular role. So... Merc A class hatch vs Hyundai i30. Toyota Camry vs Lexus ES etc.

 

And why should secondhand cars be stung with LCT? Gosford car museum closed its doors thinking they could dodge GST and LCT because it was a museum selling old cars. (Lol)

[niZmO_Man]

Well, I'm guessing back in the day, Commodores and Falcons were the best Australia produced, so the LCT was introduced for all imports as they were considered "better" or "luxury" ?

[GTSBoy]

Anyone spending >$66k is buying a luxury product, regardless of whether they want to tow their boat etc.  Boats are luxuries, big expensive cars are luxuries, even if they are a rough riding 15 year old truck chassis with an entertainment system bolted on top.  No-one really needs more than a Kia/Hyundai/Subaru/small/medium/sedan/SUV anyway for 95% of what they do.  So they should not bitch when they have to pay more to keep up with the Jones'.

[PranK]

I also think the title is stupid, why is a $70k car considered as 'luxurious' as a $1m car? They both get taxed 33%! 

Yeah, we wanted to tax any imports to force more people to consider locally produced cars more.

I agree about the fuel consumption, I'd be happy for this to actually become a emissions tax, but then it'd have to be based on the emissions produced by that car and not a catch all for any car over a particular emissions amount. A lot of German cars would suddenly become more cost effective than Japanese and American because they'd ultimately produce less carbon and green house gasses. 

[Leroy Peterson]

I think the threshold should be $100k.
$70k barely gets you a LandCruiser 70 dual cab (excluding additional costs). Seems like it's not much of a market or free choice for models/manufacturers when theres a 30% surcharge seperating models in similar price brackets (well, sorta similar. People movers for example)

[GH05T]

i owned a 70 series... luxury it is not.

that being said it was over $100k... and also didnt have lct as it was commercial.

but the LCT should be 100k and over these days. many many family sedans and wagons are over 66-70k. and although they are a nice comfort they are not luxury.

[GTSBoy]

The definition of whether those cars are luxurious to be in is not the point.  The point is that vehicles that cost that much money are still a luxury.  You can get away with spending half that amount and get perfectly serviceable vehicles for most people's usage models.  Sure, there are one or two usage models where the vehicle can legitimately get up towards luxury car tax levels.  But almost all purchases made in the luxury car tax bracket are 100% discretionary and based on want, not need.  Ergo, luxury.

Doesn't matter how much people bleat about it.  It's just because they want X vehicle at a lower price.  If the luxury tax were to be changed/abolished/whatever, these people would still spend the same amount of money because "I want" not "I need", and also the real need is to stand out from or keep up with the other wannabes in their street/social circle.

[The Bogan]

If they went by emmissions it would need independent testing, from my experience the manufacturers claims are a joke at best, or, VW diesel gate, or Subaru STI ait pump.....

 

Weight and emmisions is all that should count, anything else is just a cash grab.

[Leroy Peterson]

I look forward to the day that other luxury items are taxed at higher rates than cheaper options.

 

Like clothing. And vacuum cleaners. And TVs. And tools. And furniture.

 

I mean, if someone wants to go for a more expensive option for anything, they should have to pay even more again, because there are cheaper alternatives available.

[PranK]

4 minutes ago, Leroy Peterson said:

I look forward to the day that other luxury items are taxed at higher rates than cheaper options.

 

Like clothing. And vacuum cleaners. And TVs. And tools. And furniture.

 

I mean, if someone wants to go for a more expensive option for anything, they should have to pay even more again, because there are cheaper alternatives available.

Oh ... So you want to buy the Japanese alternative to a Chinese product? Well, thats going to cost you the newly introduced "I like better quality products" tax or ILBQPT.

 

[GTofuS-T]

What if they called it a Temporary Refund Adjustment instead of LCT?

[GTSBoy]

Don't get me wrong, I'm no pinko leftist who supports arbitrary taxes.  I just love poking the ants' nest.

But in all seriousness, spending luxury car tax money on a car is already a silly and unnecessary exercise, which I have never done and will never do, until and unless I get sufficiently wealthy that I do not even have to think about whether spending that much money on a massively depreciating purchase** is a sensible idea or not.  And being of sound mind and body, I cannot imagine how anybody else can think that they should go out and spend that much money on a car unless they have already surpassed that threshold of wealth.  If you are not sufficiently cashed up that the difference in cost caused by the tax doesn't even factor in, such that the tax does bother you, then you shouldn't be spending that much money on a car anyway.

**note that I said "depreciating purchase" and not "depreciating asset". Already shows the mindset difference between me and the bleaters.

[Leroy Peterson]

I know what you mean, and personally feel similar for my own means.
But freedom of choice and the ability to buy whatever you want (legally) is part of being an adult. So is money management. And poeole will chose to get loans for the car they want. The government will just take some more hidden costs off the top. Like pokies.