Luxury ute tax loophole costs Australians $250m a year, researchers say

Luxury utes like the Chevrolet Silverado are being imported as ‘commercial vehicles’ under a tax loophole costing Australia millions of dollar, according to the Australia Institute. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

A loophole in Australia’s tax law is in effect subsidising the price of luxury utes such as Ram and Chevrolet SUVs, costing taxpayers more than $250m a year in forgone revenue, an analysis has found.

The research from the Australia Institute centres on the Luxury Car Tax (LCT) – introduced in 2000 for imported cars partly to protect the domestic industry that existed at the time – and an exemption that applies to certain utes.