4 ms·

It is Salary Sacrifice, where an employer agrees to swap salary for some non-cash reward. Employee gets less cash and the benefit (eg. a car). Employer pays Fri

It is Salary Sacrifice, where an employer agrees to swap salary for some non-cash reward. Employee gets less cash and the benefit (eg. a car). Employer pays Fringe Benefits tax on the benefit, employee doesn't pay tax on the salary they sacrificed. The trick is that there is no fringe benefits tax on electric cars, in one of the few ways Australia is actually promoting them. https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/Fringe-benefits-tax/Salary-sacrificing/ https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/Fringe-benefits-tax/Salary-s... So people in the highest tax bracket can get cheap luxury cars, and everyone else left out in the cold while we wait for government to incentivize affordable electric vehicles on the market. You can still count on one hand the number non-luxury electric car models on the market (<$70,000 AUD). Cheapest is still $50,000 AUD ($33k USD)

einpoklum 4y ago
For people living in cities/towns, how much of an option is it to go car-less? Is it more like, say, Dutch cities, or more like in the US? Anyway, whenever I hear talk of promoting EVs without mass transit being mentioned together with it, my instinct is to assume it's some sort of an upwards-transfer-of-wealth scheme in which richer people get subsidized.
- danielheath 4y ago
  It's not quite as extreme as the US, in the city center you can manage okay without, but it's mostly not an option.
  - thundergolfer 4y ago
    You can manage fantastically, not merely okay, without a car in Sydney and Melbourne’s city and inner suburbs. Most people I knew who lived in those areas did not own a car and were better for it.
    - danielheath 4y ago
      Fair, I lived in East Melbourne for a couple of years and having a car was entirely unnecessary.
- Ntrails 4y ago
  You're right, and I hate it for that reason. However there are not many other levers to be pulled, and any price reduction in what are expensive vehicles will benefit the wealthy. The obvious alternative (make ice vehicles more expensive) will actively hurt the poorer car owners more. I honestly don't see obvious better ways to drive ev uptake
  - tim333 4y ago
    You can increase the tax on the cars wealthy people drive like in the UK we have an annual road tax that varies from not much on a 1L economy car and is like £500 a year on large engined vehicles.
  - stubish 4y ago
    We need more and cheaper models of EV vehicles on the market. Like there are in other countries. Without this you are correct, as the only cars on the market are only affordable by the wealthy. Over here we are being told that something simple like stricter fuel emissions standards would cause manufacturers to release many more models of EV cars, and that would include more affordable models as well as driving down the costs (we are paying $36,000 USD for a Nissan Leaf, which is only $28,000 USD in USA and 'as low as $20,000' on their web site). Manufacturers still have a lot of capacity for producing cars they are unable to sell in many places, and Australia is a dumping ground. And manufacturers say it will remain so without incentives. Or perhaps if they are forced by new manufacturers such as ACE or BYD, if they are accepted by the market.

einpoklum 4y ago

For people living in cities/towns, how much of an option is it to go car-less? Is it more like, say, Dutch cities, or more like in the US? Anyway, whenever I hear talk of promoting EVs without mass transit being mentioned together with it, my instinct is to assume it's some sort of an upwards-transfer-of-wealth scheme in which richer people get subsidized.

danielheath 4y ago
It's not quite as extreme as the US, in the city center you can manage okay without, but it's mostly not an option.
- thundergolfer 4y ago
  You can manage fantastically, not merely okay, without a car in Sydney and Melbourne’s city and inner suburbs. Most people I knew who lived in those areas did not own a car and were better for it.
  - danielheath 4y ago
    Fair, I lived in East Melbourne for a couple of years and having a car was entirely unnecessary.
Ntrails 4y ago
You're right, and I hate it for that reason. However there are not many other levers to be pulled, and any price reduction in what are expensive vehicles will benefit the wealthy. The obvious alternative (make ice vehicles more expensive) will actively hurt the poorer car owners more. I honestly don't see obvious better ways to drive ev uptake
- tim333 4y ago
  You can increase the tax on the cars wealthy people drive like in the UK we have an annual road tax that varies from not much on a 1L economy car and is like £500 a year on large engined vehicles.
- stubish 4y ago
  We need more and cheaper models of EV vehicles on the market. Like there are in other countries. Without this you are correct, as the only cars on the market are only affordable by the wealthy. Over here we are being told that something simple like stricter fuel emissions standards would cause manufacturers to release many more models of EV cars, and that would include more affordable models as well as driving down the costs (we are paying $36,000 USD for a Nissan Leaf, which is only $28,000 USD in USA and 'as low as $20,000' on their web site). Manufacturers still have a lot of capacity for producing cars they are unable to sell in many places, and Australia is a dumping ground. And manufacturers say it will remain so without incentives. Or perhaps if they are forced by new manufacturers such as ACE or BYD, if they are accepted by the market.