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.