The Daily Advertiser’s “futuristic” front page was full of praise for electric vehicles. While Mr Gregory predicted quite correctly that one day electric vehicles may dominate our roads, he didn’t predict the legislative changes that will have to happen very quickly to ensure these electric freeloaders are paying their full share.
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Every time you stop for fuel, you are contributing tax.
Excise tax rose in February to $0.409 per litre on petrol and diesel, so nearly 41 cents for every litre you put in your car is tax. Plus 10 per cent GST, of course.
Of that 41 cents tax per litre, it is estimated that 75 per cent goes to general revenue – that part of the federal budget that supports schools, hospitals, pensions and so on. So only a quarter of our fuel excise helps build and maintain roads.
The latest figure I could find was from 2015-16, when the federal government collected a total of $11 billion in fuel excise from us, the general motoring public.
Yet, Wagga City Council proposes to waste some of our ratepayers’ money on setting up a free electric vehicle charging station in the city centre.
Electric car owners need to pay taxes, and pay for their electricity, just like the rest of us. To fairly levy tax on the electricity that electric car owners use, we probably will need to change the way motoring taxes are collected.
The federal government is looking ahead. Page 138 of the Australian Productivity Commission’s August 2017 Shifting the Dial – Five Year Productivity Review, in officialese says, “To the extent that newer and automated vehicles are electric (or hybrid electric) powered, an increase in their use will exacerbate funding pressures.” Or simply, electric cars, or even very fuel efficient cars like hybrids, are not paying their fair share of road-based taxes.
The report goes on to suggest a tax based on kilometres driven. Road-related taxes have grown only by about 9 per cent since 2005, while the number of kilometres driven on Australian roads has increased by more than 15 per cent. We are driving more, so could we be taxed more?
One part of the report suggests: “A shift to user charges and away from a predominately tax-driven model.” Country drivers travelling more kilometres than city drivers could be taxed unfairly.
Road tax based on kilometres-driven would need to be particularly heavy on electric cars. The infrastructure to support the massive additional electricity demand for electric cars should not be added to household power bills.
Imagine this scenario: The electric motorist arrives home after work, parks the car and starts charging the battery. There’s no late afternoon-early evening solar generation. Wind often drops as the sun sets. It’s the peak time for cooking dinner. Heaters or air-conditioners are being turned on. Do we have enough surplus electricity to recharge electric cars during the evening peak?
Here’s another question. If electric power is so great for transport, why have all the electric freight locomotives been retired from NSW railways?
How do we dispose of the batteries? Lithium batteries are deemed to have a 10-year life-cycle. Spent lithium can’t be recycled.
A Department of Environment report says lithium batteries “without appropriate infrastructure could create a fire hazard within the collection infrastructure.”
Are electric cars really the answer? Perhaps not yet.
