South Australia’s new tax on electric vehicles ridiculed as ‘a big tax on not polluting’

South Australia’s controversial new electric vehicle charge has been labelled “a big tax on not polluting” by policy analysts and the EV industry. It comes as MG launches the lowest price electric vehicle on the market in Australia yet – a $40,000 SUV crossover – that is about $10,000 cheaper than its nearest rival, the Nissan Leaf. Noah Schultz-Byard, South Australian director at the Australia Institute, said the decision in South Australia – the first in the nation to introduce such a charge – would only made it harder for people to go electric just as it was getting easier. “Putting a tax on a car because it doesn’t produce any pollution is ridiculous. It’s like saying someone who gives up smoking no longer pays the tobacco excise, so they need to pay a penalty for having given up,” Schultz-Byard said. “People can make arguments for or against, but now is not the time when the upfront cost of an EV is still higher than a petrol car. Right now the cost of batteries that go into electric vehicles has been dropping steadily and is expected to drop in the years to come. “Slapping a tax on that will only… Read full this story

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