Two days after Dutton said the Coalition would not scrap an increasingly expensive tax break for electric vehicles, he has now vowed to do so.
On Monday, the Liberal leader was asked point-blank if the Coalition would repeal the tax break available to someone who buys an EV worth less than $91,387 through a novated lease.
Dutton has vowed to end what he says is a badly designed electric car subsidy. Credit: Jason South
The policy, aimed at boosting the take-up rate of EVs, was budgeted to cost just $55 million a year in reduced fringe benefits tax.
But in March, The Australian Financial Review revealed it was costing about $560 million annually. Dutton, pressed on whether the Coalition would keep the tax break, was clear.
“No, we’ve said that what we’re opposed to is the government’s big tax on hybrids,” he said during a press conference in suburban Melbourne.
“I want people to have choice. If people want to buy an EV, that’s fantastic. If they want to buy a Ford Ranger or a Toyota Hilux or whatever it might be, that is a choice that they should have.”
But in a press release this evening issued by Dutton, shadow treasurer Angus Taylor and Liberal finance spokeswoman Jane Hume, the opposition leader said the EV tax break would end.
The three said the Coalition would: “Unwind Labor’s taxpayer-funded and badly designed electric car subsidies, saving upwards of $3 billion over the forward estimates and $23 billion over the medium term.”
Earlier today, Dutton came under heavy questioning about his planned $21 billion increase in Defence spending, and how the Coalition would afford the proposal.
He said it would be covered by repealing the government’s already legislated personal income tax cuts that do not fully start until 2027-28.
