While most of the world offers incentives to people buying EVs, our government hands out subsidies for utes
As a rule of thumb, it’s good economics and good politics to tax the things you want less of and subsidise the things you want more of. That is why the Australian government raises so much tax from alcohol and tobacco, and why the Victorian government’s electric vehicle tax is the dumbest idea since Tony Abbott made the Queen’s husband a knight.
But it’s not just the Victorian government that’s waging an unwinnable war against new technology. While most of the world is offering financial subsidies and incentives such as free parking to people who buy electric cars, the Morrison government is spending billions of dollars on subsidies for the enormous twin cab utes that now dominate Australian car sales while our local councils offer free and convenient parking for the same behemoths.