Joint Statement - High Court slaps down Labor’s desperate Electric Vehicle Tax

Joint Statement – High Court slaps down Labor’s desperate Electric Vehicle Tax

Brad Rowswell, Shadow Treasurer

James Newbury, Shadow Minister for Environment and Climate Change

18 October 2023.

In a humiliation for the Allan Government, the High Court has today riled Labor’s Electric Vehicle (EV) Tax unlawful.

First announced in 2021, Labor’s EV Tax sought to recoup forgone revenue from the Federal Government’s fuel excise by charging electric vehicle drivers between 2.2 and 2.6 cents for every kilometer they drove.

The tax was widely criticised at the time as a disincentive to electric vehicle take up which would effectively punish Victorians who make the switch. Prior to the November 2022 State Election, the Liberals and Nationals committed to pausing Labor’s EV Tax, in like with the position in New South Wales.

Shadow Treasurer, Brad Rowswell, said: “This was a bad tax from the very beginning and was only introduced because Labor were desperate to find new ways to pay for their record debt, waste and mismanagement.

“The Allan Government must immediately commit to returning every cent raised from Victorians by this botched and unlawful tax and come clean on how much money was spent fighting the case in the High Court.”

Shadow Minister for Environment and Climate Change, James Newbury, said: “The High Court has put another nail in the coffin of Labor’s electric vehicle policy.

“This was always just a tax grab the crushed take up of vehicles by Victorians. We know that despite a target of 50 per cent of new vehicles being electric by 2030, it currently stands at a meagre 6.6 per cent.”

James Newbury, Shadow Minister for Environment and Climate Change

Brad Rowswell, Shadow Treasurer