As I recall the Victorian TAC antibike tax was brought in by the Bracks Labor Government at $50 per bike, per year in 2002. It was slipped in with sham consultation in the state budget. John Pigot of the MRA in Melbourne and Neville Grey of the Ulysses Club in Adelaide met with officials and agreed to the tax. The majority of riders and bike journos had no idea what was coming.
The TAC tax was supposed to fund motorcycle & scooter safety research and initiatives. After more than a decade there is not a lot to show for the $millions taken from us on top of all the usual road fees and charges we contribute to the system. It is now over $70 a year on most bikes and rising. There may have been a bit of research that VicRoads isn't releasing and there have been some road repairs that should have come out of general revenue.
Over the years, administration of the money has not been transaparent. Required reporting was not done until we made freedom of information requests. At one point it was leaked that there were plans to buy unmarked police bikes with our money to better chase road riders. This was strongly denied but I believe it.
The TAC tax has had over 10 years to show a real benefit to riders. The experiment failed.
The TAC tax makes riding more expensive so it discourages riders on lower incomes from investing in protective gear and best quality machine maintenance. In road safety terms, that is a negative.
It is true that Labor introduced the TAC tax through a budget back door but the tax has not worked as hoped and it is inherently unfair. There can be no shame in the Victorian Opposition calling for the
The current Premier, Denis Napthine MP was very much on our side back then. Abolish the TAC tax and ban wire rope barriers. In 2013 he is very much avoiding both issues. That will cost his party votes at the 2014 election. Read what Napthine had to say back then in the media release below.
Roads Minister Mulder also opposed the TAC tax in opposition. So did Ted Bailieau MP. Ted even wore a "NO BIKE TAX" t-shirt for a newspaper shot.
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| Damien Codognotto OAM, Liberal Terry Mulder MP now Roads Minister and Michael Czajka discuss motorcycle matters. |
Denis Napthine tabled our petition in state parliament and told riders and journos on the steps of Parliament House in Melbourne that the discriminatory TAC tax should go. He promised in front of riders and journos if the Liberals got into government the TAC tax would be abolished.
In December 2012 the Victorian Road Safety Committee tabled its' report on its' inquiry into motorcycle & scooter safety in state parliament. One of the 64 recommendations was to abolish the TAC tax. The Liberals have little excuse for betraying the motorcycle & scooter community over the TAC tax, even less with a recommendation from the RSC to parliament to support ending this rip off.
Recommendation 25: That the motorcycle safety levy be abolished.
www.parliament.vic.gov.au/rsc/inquiries/article/1409
The Independent Riders' Group encourages riders to printout Napthine's media release and go see their local MPs with it.
www.parliament.vic.gov.au/members
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