Electric vehicle owners in Victoria who had to pay a controversial tax will be reimbursed with interest, following a high court ruling which found the tax to be unconstitutional.
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00:00 Last month the High Court ruled that Victoria's decision to impose an excise on electric vehicle
00:06 owners was invalid.
00:07 It ruled that this was a decision that should be made by the Federal Government and it was
00:11 not in the State's powers to impose such an excise.
00:14 The State had decided to put an excise or a levy on electric vehicle owners in lieu
00:18 of electric vehicle owners not paying a fuel excise.
00:20 It was their contribution towards the roads.
00:23 But because that decision was invalid, the State has now said it needs to pay back about
00:27 $7 million to electric vehicle owners.
00:29 Here's the Treasurer, Tim Pallis.
00:31 The advice that I've received is yes, there is an obligation to repay it.
00:37 I think we've even decided to be sufficiently generous, albeit that there isn't an obligation
00:42 to pay interest.
00:43 We'll pay interest on the retention of those funds.
00:47 As I say, it's a relatively small amount.
00:49 It should be noted that the High Court decision was 4-3 and there were other States supporting
00:53 Victoria's position because they were looking at introducing a similar excise or a similar
00:57 levy on electric vehicle owners.
01:00 Tim Pallis has not just agreed about losing this $7 million but also the decision of the
01:04 High Court.
01:05 He says, calls into question the power of States to implement other taxes and other
01:09 excises and whether that is actually within their powers.
01:12 He says it's a troubling decision but at the end of the day it's $7 million being returned
01:17 to electric vehicle owners in Victoria.
01:19 [BLANK_AUDIO]