Alternative Proposal for ACC

[magicmonkey]

In reading this forum it seems that a lot of people are willing to actually DO SOMETHING which is awesome

I can't help but think that the ACC has risen because it's running at a loss, therefore bikers have been picked on to front up the extra cash. To me it sounds very much like the govt has worked out how to get the money it needs and is now rubbing it's collective hands waiting for the cash to come it.

If those assumptions are true, demonstrations will be a very valuable tool, offering other, politically viable and reasonable, suggestions as to how to get this extra money (which they WILL get one way or another) will also be a very valuable tool.

To just demonstrate on it's own may not achieve very much, to offer a reasonable alternative which, with decent publicity, gets the public opinion to sway in bikers favour will be a massively valuable asset in sorting this out. Demonstrations would then have a purpose and could be used essentially as adverts for the 'thinking man's proposal' grabbing some stories in the papers.

I'm one of those immigrant types so I haven't got a decent idea of the intricacies of ACC to be able to make suggestions, however anyone who has ideas could post in here, maybe it could be discussed at the BRONZ meeting and a proposal which is reasonable enough to make sense and sensationalist enough to get a few stories in papers could be devised.

Just my 2c...

[Okey Dokey]

Such as ACC funds better training for car drivers so they cause less injuries to motorcyclists.

[magicmonkey]

Such as ACC funds better training for car drivers so they cause less injuries to motorcyclists.

Well, that's going to cost money rather than make money, the govt is clearly after a quick cash injection rather than long term safety at the moment...

[Maki]

Motorcycling is a sport, at least it is some of the time. People injure themselves playing sports. Treat motorcycle injures the same way as other sports injuries. Either make ALL people who participate in risky sports pay, or make the taxpayer pay the bill. To single out one sport and make them pay, while downhill push bikers, skiers, climbers and thugby players pay nothing is unfair in the extreme.

[NighthawkNZ:Me]

Well, that's going to cost money rather than make money, the govt is clearly after a quick cash injection rather than long term safety at the moment...

Spend money to save monry... I would have thought

[magicmonkey]

Ok, here's a couple of ideas, feel free to shoot them down at will!

On road ACC:

ACC levies to rise 20% for ALL road users


Tourism:

Companies offering extreme sports experiences to be changed an amount proportional to the satistical danger of the sport. Goverment to advise that this cost should be passed on the the customer ensuring that the extreme sports tourism ACC charges are covered by tourists and not kiwi's

Personally, I think this is something most Kiwi's will love. It's probably far from effective for getting money in but good for grabbing some headlines and getting that 'common sense' support from the general public


Racing, Track Days and MX events (All vehicles, not just 2 wheels):

Additional surchange per person, per event, charges to be passed on to the team/individual participating. Surcharge to be based on historical ACC claims related to these events. Pain in the arse though this may be it's going to bring in capitol and that's what the govt wants...

That's all I can think of a tthe moment, I am supposed to be working after all!!

[Neon]

Motorcycling is a sport, at least it is some of the time. People injure themselves playing sports. Treat motorcycle injures the same way as other sports injuries. Either make ALL people who participate in risky sports pay, or make the taxpayer pay the bill. To single out one sport and make them pay, while downhill push bikers, skiers, climbers and thugby players pay nothing is unfair in the extreme.

Motorcycling is technically only a sport when done on a race track. No ACC levies there...

[Maki]

Motorcycling is technically only a sport when done on a race track. No ACC levies there...

You could argue about that. Why is pushbiking on the road a sport and motorcycling not?

[v8s&2wheels]

Heres my proposal... thought of while i couldnt sleep at 1am from stress levels of ACC hike (can i go to docs and get subsidised sleeping pills?).

Anyway here we go.

There needs to be a small acc levy (small being under $100 a year) on all people who own a drivers licence, i have no idea how many drivers licences there are in nz but its gota be a couple million, this still creates huge revenue for ACCs big debt problem (not our fault but we are forced to fix it).

And then a bigger amount of acc levy coming out of peoples wages. People with no jobs dont have private transportation as cant afford it. People with more than 1 vehicle wont be charged for both vehicles, but fairly charged through their pay for their commitment of using their own private transportation.

Now with this acc out of wages. Ive created a magic number.. 1% ACC TAX.

If someone earns $20,000 a year after tax, they only pay $200 a year towards ACC, so when your $20,000 earner gets paid $400 a week in the hand only $4 of that will go towards ACC. Which is much more manageable than $400 a year for a car owner, or $800 for a big bike owner, or $1200 a year for car and big bike.

If someone earns $100,000 a year after tax, they will pay $1000 a year towards ACC. So when these people get $2,000 a week in the hand, only a small amount of $20 goes towards ACC (pretty sure they aren't going to miss $20 a week).

This works out, people with lower wages aren't paying so much for ACC. People earning more, can afford to let go of more money and not affect them as well.

Think about it guys.... 1% of your weekly pay.... its nothing compared to a big hit of ACC levies each year.

Now if we can get a whole figure for what everyone earns in a year, at a guess im going to say $200billion, and take 1% of that, thats $2billion a year towards ACC, and thats just ACC TAX on people earning money, and lets face it, 99.9% of people can afford to take a 1% hit on their final pay oin pocket.

Add into account the ACC TAX on your drivers licence (which im happy to pay around $100 a year since i wont be paying over $1000 a year for bike and car ACC levies inside the rego). $100x2million licences, thats another $200million for ACC. So far ive created $2.2billion for ACC. And then add on top their acc levy from normal tax, and petrol. Someone tell me thats not enough money for them to sort their shit out.



Note: if anyone thinks this is a good or bad idea please let me know. As I think its a good idea, but obviously i have no stats on what moneys in NZ so i could far off what values are around. I also want to put this to ACC and ask for a revamp on how ACC levies (TAXES) are enforced.

[p.dath]

Spend money to save monry... I would have thought

So you wont be complaining if ACC increases then?

[Neon]

Here's some food for thought.

In 2008, the total cost of claims for motorcyclists was around $62.5m (source)

This article quotes ACC as stating that alcohol is a factor in 22% of all claims totalling $650m a year.

Surely the logical answer is to add an ACC levy to alcohol sales? Or is it just that it would be politically unpopular, and not as easy as targeting a minority group such as motorcyclists?

[monkeymcbean]

Ok, here's a couple of ideas, feel free to shoot them down at will!

On road ACC:

ACC levies to rise 20% for ALL road users


Tourism:

Companies offering extreme sports experiences to be changed an amount proportional to the satistical danger of the sport. Goverment to advise that this cost should be passed on the the customer ensuring that the extreme sports tourism ACC charges are covered by tourists and not kiwi's

Personally, I think this is something most Kiwi's will love. It's probably far from effective for getting money in but good for grabbing some headlines and getting that 'common sense' support from the general public


Racing, Track Days and MX events (All vehicles, not just 2 wheels):

Additional surchange per person, per event, charges to be passed on to the team/individual participating. Surcharge to be based on historical ACC claims related to these events. Pain in the arse though this may be it's going to bring in capitol and that's what the govt wants...

That's all I can think of a tthe moment, I am supposed to be working after all!!

Complusory 3rd party insurance for all road users, that will boost the coffers.

All off road motorcycles pay a fee or some equivalent to registration or the on road motorbikes are paying for these users. They are a big part of the statistics as well as on road users