Twenty years ago, Holden was a sure-fire winner if there ever was such a thing – the Winx of manufacturing in Australia.
However, the Asian car makers kept chipping away at that “sure thing” and by 10 years ago they were in front. It was case of Australians loving their homegrown Holden brand but not backing it up by buying one.
On Sundays they cheered for Holden in the Supercars; on Monday morning they went to work in their Toyota, Hyundai or Mercedes. As Holden team supremo Roland Dane quipped: “In the past 10 years, everyone cheered for a Holden win, but unfortunately they didn’t go out and buy one.”
And the dismal sales showed even the strongest Governmental funding to support struggling private enterprise can go badly wrong.
The Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance, the nation’s largest grassroots advocacy group representing taxpayers, wants to know why Treasurer Josh Frydenburg opposed a cutting the failed protectionist tax, the Luxury Car Tax.
“It is time we drive the Luxury Car Tax out of Australia,” ATA Policy Director Emilie Dye said. “Holden has reached the end of its road, making an unfair tax more pointless.
“It appears Mr Frydenburg doesn’t want to lose a chunk of government revenue he could spend supporting his favorite sports teams. It isn’t the government’s job to pick winners and losers and yet they keep favoring certain businesses and groups over others.
“Taxes like the luxury car tax are one of the reasons people don't trust lobbyists. Rather than competing against other vehicles to create better more affordable products, car companies grabbed their blankies and lobbied the government to get rid of their mean competitors,” Ms Dye said.
“As is standard for sloppy taxes, the government failed to tie the luxury car tax to inflation. So, as the buying power of a set dollar amount inevitably decreases, the luxury car tax metamorphoses into a ‘kind-of-nice’ car tax and eventual into just a car tax.
“Most people think of Porsches, not Kenworths when politicians talk about the luxury car tax. Senator Matt Canavan nailed it when he said at the very least Australia needs an exemption for farmers. Too often pollies forget the impact of legislation on people living in regional Australia,” Ms Dye said.
