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2016 Federal Budget: What does it mean for Australian car buyers?

The Turnbull Liberal Government handed down its inaugural budget last night. Amidst the taxes for smoking and additional ABC funding, is there any news for car buyers?


Bottom line: not really.

The small business $20,000 (GST inclusive) capital equipment purchase rebate has been extended to bigger small businesses, with turnover caps raised from $2 million to $10 million.

When introduced last year, this rebate allowed businesses to immediately depreciate a $20k business purchase - like a car - before the end of the financial year.

With plenty of choice around the $20,000 mark (you can spend more, but only the first $20k is applicable under the scheme), buying a car for your business before June 30 can help your reduce your taxable income. Because, as small business owners know, every little bit helps.

And then? 

Funding for infrastructure projects in Victoria, and a Melbourne-to-Brisbane rail link, all sound rosey in terms of reducing congestion on our major arterial roads, but by the time these projects have been fully realised, the traffic situations will have changed from what we know now, anyway.

At any rate, the interstate railway connection should reduce the volume of heavy vehicles making the slog up the Hume and through Northern NSW.

While issues like parallel importation of vehicles may become election fodder, they aren't directly related to a national budget so were never really going to be tabled.

What is disappointing though is a lack of national cohesive planning around low-emission vehicles and potential registration or LCT rebates for buyers. Perhaps this will be something the states will address individually.

Australia is still a long way behind other nations when it comes to an EV strategy, so we can only hope this makes it across someone's desk in order to be blatantly politicized leading up to the election...

What were your thoughts on the 2016 Federal Budget? Important, irrelevant, or were you more focussed on catching up on the big Game of Thrones secret we all saw coming?

James Ward

With over 20 years of experience in digital publishing, James Ward has worked within the automotive landscape since 2007 and brings experience from the publishing, manufacturer and lifestyle side of the industry together to spearhead Drive's multi-media content direction.

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