Luxury tax boost means more EVs: Aust Greens

The Australian Greens’ five-step plan to get 31,000 more electric vehicles on the country’s roads by 2021 will be a controversial one.

Increasing the luxury car tax from 33% to 50% is one of the steps Accelerating The EV Revolution says is needed, to get the electric cars out there, and the charging stations to support them.

The Greens note that Australia’s transport sector accounts for 17.4% of national greenhouse gas emissions.

In order to cut these emissions, the party has unveiled five key changes which includes getting the Australian government to cover the costs of state vehicle registration fees for new, fully electric vehicles for the first five years.

The Greens have signalled $151 million in grants to support local governments, state governments and car park operators to install electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

This program will subsidise the purchase and installation costs for a fast charge roadside station, up to a cap of $45,000 per station, which could support the installation of approximately 3500 charging stations.

Additionally, $50 million in grants would go to support government and non-government organisations to meet the gap between the cost on electric vehicle and a conventional vehicle.

With a gap of approximately $15,000 between conventional and electric vehicles, this would cover the price gap for nearly 3500 new EVs.
The Greens would increase the luxury car tax (LCT) from 33% to 50% for fossil-fuel powered vehicles worth over $100,000. This would raise $280 million over the forward estimates.

“Not only would this encourage the purchase of electric vehicles by making the comparative cost of luxury fossil fuel vehicles higher, but it would offset the cost of scrapping registration fees for new EVs,” according to the Greens plan.

Finally, the party wants to include firms involved in electric vehicle manufacturing in the government’s Automotive Transformation Scheme to grow the jobs and skills in the new electric vehicle industry.

The Greens also called on the Council of Australian Governments to place on its agenda the development of a policy framework to drive the rapid adoption of electric vehicle to
include:

• Implementation of consumer incentives for electric vehicle ownership including, registration rebates or cash-backs, tax credits as well as significant targets for government fleets;
• Putting in place a regulatory environment that supports electric vehicles such as regulation of deployment and the setting of competition and policy standards;
• Maximising energy opportunities through appropriate regulation, such as requiring “smart” charging sourced through renewable energy; and
• Industry policy that develops the electric vehicle sector in Australia, such as battery manufacturer and servicing, engineering and manufacturing of vehicles or parts in Australia.