South Australia's user tax on electric vehicles is so wrong and indicates stupidity or worse?

[4channel]

Crazy.

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“First in world:” South Australia to impose road user tax on electric vehicles

• November 11, 2020
•  
• Giles Parkinson

Just a week after unveiling an electric vehicle transition plan for its government fleet and more charging infrastructure, the South Australia Liberal government has shocked the EV sector by announing a road user charge will be imposed on electric vehicles in 2021.

The news came in the South Australia state budget delivered by Treasurer Rob Lucas on Tuesday, and it means the state will become the first in Australia to impose such charges, and the only jurisdiction on the planet – according to EV advocates – to impose such penalties on EV owners while providing no other incentives to purchase.

More below

https://thedriven.io/2020/11/11/south-australia-to-impose-road-user-tax-on-electric-vehicles-from-20...

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Clean energy is what we should all be chasing and embracing. Are they allergic to the word exemption?

This just sends the wrong message to people when we need to change our thinking to get to a better cleaner mode of transport and harm the environment less..

[bidicus*maximus]

Here in the US taxes for using and maintaining the roads are imposed on our gasoline purchases.  If people stopped buying gasoline in favor of electric, the money to maintain the roads still needs to come from somewhere..

[4channel]

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@bidicus*maximus wrote:

Here in the US taxes for using and maintaining the roads are imposed on our gasoline purchases.  If people stopped buying gasoline in favor of electric, the money to maintain the roads still needs to come from somewhere..

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Well gasoline is going to be around for a long time regardless People are not going to stop buying gasoline any time soon. It will take years, before there would be a significan't transition to clean energy automobiles to impact on this to that extent. Also there are plenty of places to get money from roads. Making industries as mining companies pay more tax to cover any losses over time is one way.

Pollution is a major concern and we need to do more than what we are now. And we need to give people more of an incentive to go clean.

[bidicus*maximus]

For those who believe that going electric is the way to protect the environment, doing so should be incentive enough.  Do they really also need to be exempt from paying a tax that gas-powered drivers have to pay?  And why should the cost of road maintenance be shifted from the users of the roads to unrelated industries?  Just because, "someone besides me should pay"?

As long as the yearly road use tax is roughly equal between gas and electric users, it would seem reasonable and fair enough to me.

[4channel]

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@bidicus*maximus wrote:

For those who believe that going electric is the way to protect the environment, doing so should be incentive enough.  Do they really also need to be exempt from paying a tax that gas-powered drivers have to pay?  And why should the cost of road maintenance be shifted from the users of the roads to unrelated industries?  Just because, "someone besides me should pay"?

As long as the yearly road use tax is roughly equal between gas and electric users, it would seem reasonable and fair enough to me.

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Money will easily be found  to look after the roads. People who pollute less should be rewarded as well. There are many people who use pushbikes on the roads. Should they be taxed as well?

[joz*garage]

I thought vehicle rego was high enough to cover for roads..maintenance costs ete -etc, it's very expensive here in W.A anyway.

[mytreechange]

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@4channel wrote:

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@bidicus*maximus wrote:

For those who believe that going electric is the way to protect the environment, doing so should be incentive enough.  Do they really also need to be exempt from paying a tax that gas-powered drivers have to pay?  And why should the cost of road maintenance be shifted from the users of the roads to unrelated industries?  Just because, "someone besides me should pay"?

As long as the yearly road use tax is roughly equal between gas and electric users, it would seem reasonable and fair enough to me.

Agreed

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Money will easily be found  to look after the roads. People who pollute less should be rewarded as well. There are many people who use pushbikes on the roads. Should they be taxed as well?

Why not?

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[bidicus*maximus]

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@4channel wrote:

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Money will easily be found  to look after the roads.

Things must be far different there than they are here... around here money is never, "easily found".

People who pollute less should be rewarded as well.

I'd heard that goodness is it's own reward... 

There are many people who use pushbikes on the roads. Should they be taxed as well?

If they've been taxed up to now, I'd say, "yes"... otherwise I'll go with, "no"...

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[kopenhagen5]

I think road taxes should be based on weight of vehicles with a reduction as an incentive for electric/hybrid vehicles.

[springyzone]

I think it is fair enough that road users all pay towards their road usage.

Unfortunately, governments will always be after funds and if one group of road users get off free, then the costs will rise for the others.

The other idea I have seen touted in the media is that vehicles may eventually be charged a toll on every main road & that way, the further you drive, the more you pay. On the surface that may seem fair enough, but the problem with that is many lower and middle class income earners live in the outer suburbs and usually have to travel further to get to work.

You only have to look at the M1 any morning around here (or later afternoon) to see 4 lanes of traffic virtually at a standstill in peak hour-everyone heading in towards the city (or later in, coming home). So a pay as you go tax would hurt the poorer groups the most.

I suppose the question is how much will a user tax on electric vehicles deter a person from buying one? I think if the tax across vehicle types is pretty much the same, then it won't make much difference. There will be other considerations that make the most difference.