Achievements

1.The Introduction of GST:

The new tax system represented an enormous challenge to the Australian Taxi Industry. Moreover, it had the potential to cause wide spread confusion, frustration, and inconvenience to taxi drivers, operators, owners and customers - the consequences of which could have been financially devastating.

Taking the lead on this issue, the ATIA successfully applied to the GST Start-Up Office for a grant of about $1.5-million to undertake an ambitious Industry-wide education campaign, comprising workshops, manuals, CD-ROMS, and sample forms.

This campaign successfully reached over 60,000 taxi drivers, 20,000 taxi owners/operators. The Taxi Industry achieved high levels of compliance with minimal disruption to service or customer inconvenience.

2. LPG Excise Duty:

In the 2003 Budget, the Federal Government announced its intention to extend the excise system to include LPG and other alternative fuels. Given the Australian Taxi Industry’s reliance on LPG as a fuel source, this decision had the potential to result in a very significant cost impost.

The ATIA was decisive in its response. Working cooperatively with other key stakeholders, such as the Australian Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association (ALPGA), the ATIA relentlessly lobbied the Federal Government.

We were successful in:

• Securing a 50% discount for the LPG excise
• Staggering implementation of the excise
• Obtaining a $1,000 cash subsidy for new LPG vehicles
• Postponing the implementation date to July 2011