The impact of Australia's fringe benefits tax for cars on petrol consumption and greenhouse emissions

Petrol consumption has become one of the most important sustainability issues forAustralia. The central contention in this article is whether Australia's current FringeBenefits Tax (FBT) regime is promoting unnecessary mileage (and use of petrol) insalary packaged vehicles to obtain tax concessions under the FBT 'statutory formulamethod' for cars. This article draws together the results of FBT survey data collectedvia a questionnaire and from respondents' websites, which has been analysed by theauthors. The evidence assembled generally supports the central contention. We havealso reviewed and included commentary on similar studies that support our keyclaim. The findings are important because the questionnaire responses representa significant sample. The outcomes of our research provide further support for a callto amend the current FBT legislation and therefore foster more environmentallysustainable car salary packaging polices for Australian business.