NSW examines new electric vehicle levies as market expands

The Driven

The NSW government has confirmed that it is actively considering the introduction of new taxes and levies that would apply to electric vehicles in the state.

Treasury officials told a budget estimates hearing earlier in March that the government was considering a shift to road user levies, based on the distance driven, as an alternative to levies charged on fuel sales.

The shift may see state governments recover a greater share of transport tariffs as the fuel excises – charged predominantly by the Federal government – decline as people shift to electric vehicles.

In Australia, an excise is currently levied on petrol sales of around 42 cents per litre, in addition to a 10 per cent GST charge, which are both collected by the Federal government.

Deputy secretary of the NSW Treasury, Joann Wilkie, told the budget estimates hearing that the NSW government was actively considering new models for collecting transport tariffs, with a shift to electric vehicles in mind.

“Electric vehicles at the moment are obviously subject to registration duties, like all cars. But apart from that, they do not contribute to taxation collected that is then used for the upkeep of roads and that sort of thing,” Wilkie told the hearing.

The treasury officials told the hearing that the introduction of new charges for electric vehicles may be justified to cover the costs of new charging infrastructure as levies collected from fuel sales fall.

To read the full version of this story – and view the photo gallery – on RenewEconomy’s electric vehicle dedicated site, The Driven, click here…

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