Essay by Eric Worrall
Aussie EV drivers in the state of Victoria are supposed to photograph their mileage for the tax man every year, so they can be charged for using the roads.
Electric car registrations cancelled after not paying road user tax
Wednesday, Mar 1, 2023
More than 240 Victorian drivers have had their car registrations cancelled for failing to pay Australia’s first tax on electric and hybrid vehicles.
The Zero and Low-Emission Vehicle road user charge, which is currently facing a High Court challenge, levies a fee on every kilometre electric vehicle drivers travel each year.
But one Victorian driver said the tax had caused her registration to be cancelled without her knowledge and she only discovered her car was not allowed on roads six months later.
Victoria’s controversial electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle tax was introduced in July 2021 – a move Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas said was designed to “ensure all motorists pay their fair share to use our roads”.
The charge, raised to 2.6 cents per kilometre for electric vehicles last year, was introduced to replace revenue that would have been collected by the national excise on fuel.
A move by South Australia’s former Marshall Government to introduce a state EV road user tax was scrapped by parliament in February.
…Read more: https://indaily.com.au/news/2023/03/01/electric-car-registrations-cancelled-after-not-paying-road-user-tax/
Why not tax EV chargers, in the same way gasoline is taxed?
Or ask EV companies to forward details of mileage collected by their electronic systems?
I’m not a fan of EVs, but this is an absurdly fiddly way to collect a tax – yet another reason not to buy an EV in Australia.