The issue of a national Road User Charge (RUC) has been raised by Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers as a potential element of future taxation reform during the current term of government.
FCAI chief executive Tony Weber this week attended an industry forum organised by Infrastructure Partnerships Australia to discuss the issue ahead of next week’s Economic Reform Roundtable.
Conceptually, RUC has broad support from state treasurers on the proviso that it must be federally led.
The Victorian Government introduced a RUC for EV and PHEV in 2021, however this was removed following a successful challenge in the High Court in the Vanderstock case. The issue in the judgement related to the rights of a state and territories to raise revenue through a charge such as a RUC. NSW is the only State with a RUC on the agenda, scheduled for implementation in July 2027 or when EVs achieve 30 per cent of new vehicle sales, whichever is sooner.
The FCAI supports the introduction of a RUC on the basis that it presents an opportunity for broad reform of taxes and charges that impact motorists including fuel excise, luxury car tax, tariffs, license fees, regulations and stamp duty. It should apply to the entire light vehicle fleet and be led by the Federal Government to ensure consistency, equity and fairness across all states.
The FCAI provided a submission to the Treasurers Economic Reform Roundtable outlining the opportunity for a fair and equitable RUC to replace fuel excise in Australia, and how it could be leveraged as an opportunity for systemic reform of the tax system to remove other inefficient taxes and charges across multiple levels of government.
The FCAI is continuing to engage with all levels of government, and across industries, on the concept of a RUC as appropriate and will also look to engage further with members in the coming months.
[PS1]Perhaps upload a copy of the letter to the website and then link. The submission can be found at 20250725.FCAI_Economic_Reform_Roundtable.pdf