Finding new revenue streams after High Court EV decision

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Victorian government says the High Court's decision to scrap its electric vehicle tax could force the state to overhaul the way it raises revenue. Treasurer Tim Pallas has acknowledged the landmark decision could lead to constitutional challenges on other taxes including the new Airbnb levy.

Transcript

00:00 Riz Atkar is in Bendigo to work out how many electric vehicle charges the new GovHub building

00:07 will need. He says Victoria has some of the worst charging infrastructure in the country,

00:12 despite being the only state to raise millions of dollars through an electric vehicle tax.

00:17 Look when it comes to NSW they've got at least 30% more sites compared to what Victoria has.

00:24 A landmark decision by the High Court found the tax was unlawful, meaning for the past

00:30 two years the government's been collecting two cents for every kilometre travelled by

00:34 low emission cars without the authority to do so.

00:38 It's a matter of genuine concern that the High Court is reimagining the Constitution,

00:45 that they've upturned 50 years of interpretation of what constitutes an excise.

00:51 But the bigger problem is it could lead to constitutional challenges to other state taxes,

00:56 including the Airbnb levy.

00:58 So the High Court's decision could have broad ramifications for all states, so it could

01:03 cause these states to look over their stamp duties on goods of various types.

01:08 We're obviously going to have to look at this, we're going to have to look at which taxes

01:14 may be impacted.

01:16 It was meant to be the tax to replace the fuel excise as petrol cars disappear and collect

01:21 cash for road maintenance.

01:24 Instead electric vehicle owners could see an extra charge on their registration.

01:29 The Treasurer says he's not worried about filling the $7 million black hole this will

01:33 leave in the state's budget.

01:35 The government's talking to its lawyers to see whether it has to pay back the electric

01:39 vehicle drivers who've already forked out the tax.

01:43 It is a bit of a bad look though for a government, so Victoria's government, to impose a tax

01:48 they had no legal authority to do and then really haul people over the coals when they're

01:52 trying to get the money back.

01:53 Well if the High Court struck down your law you should never have imposed it and the fair

01:57 thing to do is to return the money.

01:59 The government may not get a choice.

02:02 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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