Commission recommends the Federal Government increase the excise to 26.3 cents per litre.
The heavy vehicle fuel excise should increase to 26.3 cents per litre, the National Transport Commission (NTC) has recommended.
The NTC says government spending on roads has increased from $2.9 billion to $3 billion in the past year to justify the 0.6 per cent rise in the excise on July 1.
The excise is currently 26.14 cents per litre.
“The heavy vehicle base cost has increased by 2.4 per cent from 2014 to 2015,” the NTC says.
“Applying the technical adjustment calculations, to ensure that the heavy vehicle charge outcome is consistent with the objective of achieving full heavy vehicle cost recovery with minimal over or under-recovery, results in an annual adjustment factor of 0.6 per cent for 2015.”
The recommendation has been released for feedback as part of a formal consultation process the NTC must go through before submitting a final proposal to the Federal Government.
The trucking industry has until April 17 to make its views known on the NTC’s recommendation.
The NTC’s stance puts it at odds with the Australian Trucking Association (ATA), which last week asked the Federal Government to freeze the excise on the basis operators were already being charged too much.
ATA CEO Stuart St Clair says the trucking industry will be overcharged $200 million this financial year because the system used to calculate heavy vehicle charges is outdated.
“The trucking industry is still being overcharged. As a result, the Government should continue to freeze the road user charge until this overcharging has been addressed,” he says.
Federal infrastructure minister Warren Truss will make the decision on whether to raise the excise.
NTC CEO Paul Retter says Truss will take into account the views and evidence the trucking industry puts forward during the consultation process.
“We are consulting with Australia’s transport industry and other stakeholders before providing our final recommendation for consideration by the minister,” Retter says.