The Australia Institute has welcomed the decision from the South Australian Government not to introduce an electric vehicle tax in July of this year.

“The Australia Institute welcomes the decision of the South Australian Government, but a delay of one year is not enough,” said Noah Schultz-Byard, SA Director at The Australia Institute.

“This EV tax debacle has already seen the approach taken in South Australia and Victoria become a warning to other jurisdictions across the country.

“Only a commitment to properly supporting the uptake of EVs in the state and permanently ruling out this tax will give the community the confidence that it needs to transition away from fossil fuelled cars.

“The reality is this tax was always such a terrible idea that it had no real prospect of passing the Parliament. The government has done the right thing in backing down on the EV tax and going back to the drawing board.

“We should be encouraging more electric vehicles onto our road, not less, and threatening to slap a great, big, new tax on not polluting is the last thing the fledgling EV sector needs.

“Our research shows there is strong support for policies that would see the uptake of electric vehicles increase across Australia, but this new tax would have the opposite effect.”