FBT changes put pressure on leasing companies THE car leasing industry is on the brink of collapse, as fleet-car deliveries have all but stopped. NLC Leasing, which today sacked 74 of its 145 staff, normally delivers 40 cars a day, but that figure had dropped to just two since the Rudd Government announced sweeping and sudden changes to Fringe Benefits Tax rules on Tuesday. There will be widespread sackings across the salary packaging industry. This is going to devastate a lot of people if not the entire industry," said Danny Wilson, one of the partners at South Melbourne-based NLC which had been in business for 23 years. We have a wages bill of $50,000 a day. If we're not delivering cars, we can't pay people. I needed to make a decision to protect staff entitlements and act appropriately and try to help the business survive. We are a private company, we need to manage our business. Wilson fears NLC will go bankrupt if the changes are not reversed. Sacking so many staff was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. It was appalling. These were all good people. Many of these workers had been with us a long time, one had 16 years' experience. But it's possible we'll go broke as a result of this," Mr Wilson said. Meanwhile, four out of five people affected by changes to Fringe Benefit Tax rules announced to help pay for the dumping of the carbon tax are public sector workers, the Australian Salary Packaging Industry Association revealed. Hockey would 'dump' FBT to save jobs The association surveyed 100,000 novated lease contracts and found that state and federal government public servants represent the largest portion of novated leasing business (33 per cent) ahead of those in charities and public health (28 per cent), police and teachers (21 per cent) and the private sector (18 per cent). NSW Government transport worker Glenn Godrey, 48, previously had a lease for a Holden Adventra wagon for seven years and leased a Ford Territory SUV in October last year. "I got to a position where I could take advantage of salary packaging, but now the benefits have been taken away," he said. It basically means instead of driving a new car I will have to resort to driving a second-hand vehicles. Kevin Rudd came back stating that he was a changed man, he was supposedly the new consultative Kevin Rudd. Within two weeks he has gone back to exactly the way he was prior to the 2010 dumping. I consider myself currently a reluctant Coalition voter. In years gone by I was a union rep for public transport unions of NSW. Steve Dickson, 51, who works in education in West Australia, owns a Kia Sorrento SUV and had ordered a Hyundai Santa Fe SUV six months ago. But he is due to take delivery under the new rules. The changes have put me in a bind. I purchased the new car on the understanding that I would be leasing it on a salary packaging arrangement as I have done for the past three cars over the past 10 years," he said. I've contacted the dealer to try to pull out of it, but I've got a signed contract. So I've got to come up with the cash now. When you buy a car on a novated lease you get fleet pricing. Now I have to pay retail prices plus the GST. In three weeks I've got to come up with $45,000 buy that car. I'd be silly to go ahead with a lease not knowing what the ramifications are down the track. If I had of known the FBT rules were going to change I would have just kept my old car. To pull the rug out from under my feet is just unbelievable. The Opposition is due to announce it will hold a summit with the car industry next week. Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey told radio 3AW that "we are prepared to commit to dumping it (the FBT changes). But we want to find out (the impact) from the industry. Mike Devereux, the head of Holden, has been overseas. I spoke to Max Yasuda (the head of Toyota Australia) late last night. We are in the process of talking to these people to find out how they are affected. No one saw (FBT changes) coming and it is clear it is having a if effect on people. In the same 3AW interview, Workplace Relations minister Bill Shorten dismissed the negative reaction to the FBT changes. "I don't accept that this change is a bad idea," he said. That is difficult when people are losing their jobs ... but in the long term, we need to have a tax system that is sustainable.