NSW flags new EV taxes but promises they won’t “impede innovation and take-up”

There’s a sense of deja-vu in Sydney today as the state of NSW flags new EV taxes, including a distance-based tax that would largely mirror the ones planned in Victoria and South Australia, though the NSW Treasurer insists the move won’t “impede innovation and take-up”.

NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet has instead pledged an “holistic” tax plan for EVs in the next State Budget, with the plan designed to make electric vehicle owners pay for road use in the same way that ICE owners do through the fuel excise.

As NSW flags new EV taxes, the Victorian Government’s plan to introduce a distance-based tax on electric vehicles has attracted the ire of automotive brands, environmental groups and EV owners alike, and there’s a definite sense that the NSW Treasurer is keen to avoid the same blowback, despite admitting that “a user charge is where the future lies”.

“Over time, people who use the roads should pay for the roads, just like they do with fuel excise, but what we don’t want to do is impede innovation and take-up of electric vehicles,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“We’re working on a holistic package to announce in the budget.”

The Victorian plan is to slug EV owners an extra 2.5-cents per kilometre, but further investigation by EV Central’s own John Carey found the move was like increasing petrol prices by 50 percent.

All is expected to be revealed around June, when the next State Budget is handed down.