REGISTRATION FEES DEBATE * Australia - Transport Department denies truckies taking out rego interstate

(Photo from ABC News, by Andrew Fisher)

Sydney,NSW,Australia -ABC News, by Tim Jeanes -Feb 28, 2011: -- The Road Transport Association says some companies are registering their vehicles interstate to avoid big registration hikes in South Australia...  Executive director Steve Shearer says a 75 per cent increase in B-double registration costs has taken them to $14,000 per year. He said costs in Western Australia remained at $4,500...  A Transport Department official said there was no data suggesting South Australian registrations were being lost to interstate...   He said the new charges were developed by the National Transport Commission in consultation with the heavy vehicle industry and were yet to take effect in Western Australia...

Truck Registration Charges * USA - Rise 2.4 per cent

Sydney,NSW,Australia -ATA Friday Facts -February 25, 2011: --  The National Transport Commission (NTC) has today announced it will increase registration charges for heavy vehicles 2.4 per cent on 1 July 2011...  Under the changes, the cost of registering a semi trailer will increase from, $5612 to $5746, while a B-Double will now cost $15,708, as opposed to $15,340 in 2010-11...  In February 2008, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) and the Australian Transport Council (ATC) agreed that heavy vehicle charges should be adjusted annually to maintain recovery of road costs...  The NTC is responsible for reviewing national heavy vehicle charges and calculating the annual adjustment, with the revenue recovered through heavy vehicle charges contributing to building better and safer roads...  Heavy vehicle registration charges are automatically adjusted each year by the annual adjustment factor under regulations and laws in each state and territory...(Images from roadtransport/big-lorry-blog: Australia's road train)