The High Court decision on electric vehicles will make charging for road use very difficult

The High Court of Australia’s decision to invalidate Victoria’s electric vehicle tax has been widely noted as a major judgement in the history of federal-state taxation powers.

In 2021, Victoria introduced a 2.5 cents per kilometre charge for electric vehicles using public roads. Ostensibly this was to compensate for the likely loss of Commonwealth fuel excise revenue from the shift to electric vehicles.

The court’s decision, released last week, effectively expanded…