Here's an article in the press (from last year). As this was gathering some air time.
CALLS are growing louder for an overhaul to the way the federal government pays for road infrastructure, with some pushing for a radical new tax that would see drivers pay per kilometre they drive.
Road market reform has been on the government’s agenda for years but industry groups are warning that the growing adoption of electric vehicles is leading to a two-tiered system that benefits those with expensive new electric vehicles.
Along with vehicle registration fees, the federal government’s largest source of transport-related revenue is the fuel excise. It collects 41 cents in tax on every litre of petrol and diesel sold at the pump in Australia, contributing about $12.6 billion annually to government coffers.
While not all of that money is earmarked for road and transport infrastructure, it is the main way the government recoups the cost of roads from those who use them the most.
But the growing adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) means the revenue derived from the fuel excise is shrinking as some drivers exit the pool, leaving those with petrol-guzzling cars carrying the load.
Infrastructure Partnerships Australia chief executive Adrian Dwyer is among those calling for a new “fairer” road user pricing system to be adopted.
Mr Dwyer is supportive of the EV revolution which he says will “provide huge opportunity and huge benefits but it also comes with challenges. And one of those challenges is how do you pay for the infrastructure in the future when the current way we pay for roads is through fuel excise.”
In the coming days, Mr Dwyer and Infrastructure Partnerships Australia will submit a report to an ongoing parliamentary inquiry into electric vehicles, outlining the organisation’s push for a new road user tax.
“Right now if you’re driving an electric vehicle, you’re not making a contribution at the point of use,” Mr Dwyer told news.com.au.
“You pay lots of upfront charges — things like stamp duty, luxury car tax, import duties and others — but at the point of use you don’t contribute towards using those roads.”
Mr Dwyer would like to see the government remove those upfront impediments such as the luxury car tax on EVs to further encourage consumers to buy electric vehicles and believes scrapping them for a road user pricing model would be a more equitable outcome.
“We should be unashamedly pro electric vehicles, but we should do that alongside having a fairer system of paying for roads,” Mr Dwyer said.
