A push is underway for a radical new pay-as-you-drive road tax that would charge motorists for every kilometre of road they travel – and cyclists would be exempt.
At the moment, the money to pay for roads and transport infrastructure mainly comes from vehicle registration fees and the fuel excise tax.
This fuel tax, which currently sits at about 40 cents per litre for unleaded and diesel petrol, equates to over $12 billion of revenue annually for the government.
The money to pay for roads and transport infrastructure currently comes from mainly vehicle registration fees and the fuel excise tax
As the electric vehicle market grows and drivers are able to charge their vehicles using solar panels, however, this funding source is in danger of shrinking considerably, leading to industry bodies advocating for a change.
Infrastructure Partnerships Australia chief executive Adrian Dwyer will submit a report to parliament on Tuesday outlining the organisation’s proposal for a road user fee.
‘We should be unashamedly pro electric vehicles, but we should do that alongside having a fairer system of paying for roads,’ 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.’
The new system could work a number of ways including vehicles automatically sending monthly or quarterly odometer readings to an authority or having electronic tags fitted to vehicles that keep track of road usage.
Road users would then be billed similar to electricity or water rates.
‘These are really modern vehicles. They’re in constant contact with base so it’s not a huge leap to work out that you could do an odometer reading. It doesn’t need to know where you’ve been.’
Cyclists, however, would be exempt under the new system being put forward by Infrastructure Partnerships Australia.
Government estimates have put the number of electric vehicles at over 30 per cent by 2030 and the Electric Vehicle Council has said that number could be as high as 60 per cent if supported by policy-makers.
Cyclists, however, would be exempt under the new system being put forward by Infrastructure Partnerships Australia