high court electric vehicle tax

The High Court of Australia ruled in October 2023 that Victoria’s electric-vehicle road-user charge (the ZLEV tax) was unconstitutional because it amounted to an excise the states can’t levy.

Translation: the state-based per‑kilometre EV tax is invalid, and Canberra holds the keys to fuel and road‑use taxation.

Victoria moved to refund charges collected, while other states that fancied copy‑pasting the idea quietly put their calculators back in the drawer.

Expect a national approach instead — potentially a federal road‑user charge later — but for now, Victorians shouldn’t be copping that per‑km bill.