Bit of an ouch for Victoria, likely going to prevent other states from doing a similar thing (NSW was about to implement one as well) So this would now mean a EV road user tax will need to be done by the Fed
Hmm not sure how I feel about this.
On the one hand I think it’s absolutely insane to have a tax that applies exclusively to low emission vehicles. We should be subsidising those cars, not taxing them!
But on the other hand, I’ve long thought a tax on kilometres driven is far better than the way we currently tax vehicle use so it’s a little sad to see a fundamentally good idea shot down because it was poorly implemented.
The fuel excise is already sort-of meant to be a tax on km driven. Buy more fuel, pay more tax. So I can see where the government is coming from.
But yeah, I also think we need to make low emission vehicles more attractive. The upfront cost prices out too many prospective buyers. You basically need to also own your own home and have solar panels installed to really get the best out of them.
I wonder whether the people who drive the most statistically are the people who buy electric vehicles. I suspect they aren’t.
This just another tax exempt for rich who can afford electric car. Electric cars are still luxury.
There are actually some pretty affordable Chinese models. Obvs pricey still but you know that’s kinda how it goes at first.
We all benefit from cleaner air, and in general any tax hole can and should be filled with proper measures that don’t retard shifts to better technologies. Stuff like land taxes, wealth taxes, better progressive income taxes etc.
You can buy a relatively recent model Nissan leaf in perfect condition for $10k.
Where? The cheapest one on Gumtree is $10.5k for a 2013 model with its max range apparently down to 98km. The cheapest on Carsales is $11k for a 2011 model (range down to 90km).
Are you thinking they’ll always be luxury products? Like mobile phones, laptops and home internet connections were?
Nope. Definitely not. But at this time they are.
Yeah, but the tax wasn’t an ‘at this time’ thing, it was a ‘from now on’ thing.
And as it made it’s way down to the people who didn’t have thousands of dollars cash on hand at all times, asking people to pay their year’s road usage as a single lump sum was going to get more and more impractical.
Fuel tax works because you pay weekly, enforcement is simple and happens at the distribution level, and there’s no real way to evade it. None of those things are true for an EV usage tax.
For typical driving habits, this tax worked out to about 80 cents per day. Or $300 per year…
Again, I think EVs should be subsidised not taxed, but this tax wasn’t thousands of dollars.
Rego/insurance costs far more, and for me it makes perfect sense to report your kilometres driven each time you renew your rego and pay tax accordingly then (also, at least in some states you can pay rego and insurance monthly).
Enforcement would be easy enough - cops can just check your odometer when they do an RBT/etc.
Odometer cheating is a thing.
You’re putting the device doing the measuring in the hands of the people who have to pay money based on what it says.
I’m pretty confident there’s already an app I can sideload onto my car to mess with the odometer.
Also, I haven’t been pulled over or breath tested in more than 15 years.
The fuel tax is at a federal level which is why it’s allowed. We just need the federal government to eventually institute something or get states to collect it.
The precedent set, where “a prohibited state excise was a tax closely related to the production, or manufacture, sale, distribution, or consumption, that could affect its manufacture or production” is a bit concerning though.
Motor Vehicle Stamp duties, and some environmental fees on electricity are probably dead in the water.
This could also apply to freight railway access fees paid to v/line or even gaming taxes, as it could be argued the fees impact sales of trains or poker machines.
So they knock down tax which mostly applied to rich and about start taxing petrol cars more, so poor will pay more taxes. How typical.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The High Court has thrown out a controversial Victorian tax on electric cars which applies to zero and low-emission vehicles.
The state government charge has been applied at a rate of about two cents per kilometre and was designed to match the contribution drivers of fuel-powered vehicles already make to road maintenance through a Commonwealth fuel excise.
It means drivers of plug-in hybrid and fully electric vehicles must pay for the distance they travel on public roads, both in and outside Victoria.
But electric car owners Christopher Vanderstock and Kathleen Davies mounted a High Court challenge, arguing the tax was illegal because it was an excise, which only the Commonwealth could impose.
But, today, the High Court found the tax was an excise and therefore could not be imposed by the state.
There is much at stake as a result of the judgement, not least because of the rising numbers of electric vehicles on the roads, which in turn will lead to falling revenue for states and territories from fuel excise.
The original article contains 195 words, the summary contains 165 words. Saved 15%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
