Canberra 22 July 2013. The Treasurer continues to mislead Australians over the Government's unexpected changes to the Fringe Benefits Tax arrangements on salary packaged and employer provided cars.

The Coalition continued its consultation with industry today and met with stakeholders including manufacturers, dealers, repairers, salary packaging companies and other tax specialists.

The industry claims that Labor’s changes will affect significantly more than the Government’s forecast 320,000 Australians.

The industry are unable to reconcile their data with the Government's claims about the number of people affected and their incomes. The Treasurer should explain how he came up with his figures and why they differ with those of industry.

These changes - made without any consultation - are already having a devastating impact on the Australian motor vehicle industry.  Last week NLC made redundant 75 staff, and industry have warned that further job losses are to come.

At the weekend Chris Bowen said the changes mean “the shop worker in Parramatta gets the same deal on the car they use to drive to work as the inner city professional”.

But the Treasurer simply doesn't get it. The industry estimates 75 per cent of those salary packaged vehicles are driven by people earning less than $100,000. Nurses, public servants, manufacturing workers, charity workers, and police officers will be among many Australians impacted by the changes.

Furthermore, the changes will have a greater percentage impact on the remuneration package of those on average incomes compared with those on the top marginal rate.

The Coalition does not support Labor’s $1.8 billion hit on the car industry and, if elected, will not proceed with these changes.