EV taxes, congestion charges & taking high-polluting trucks off the roads w/ Marion Terrill - EP155

An electrified vehicle fleet will mean lower fuel tax revenues for governments and possibly greater traffic congestion as EVs are cheaper to run. Governments around the world are having to reassess how they charge for road use and one Australian state, Victoria, has introduced an EV tax based on distance traveled. In Economics Explored EP155, Marion Terrill from the Grattan Institute discusses what a rational road user charging system would look like. She also talks about Grattan’s truck plan, which is designed to get high polluting old trucks out of major Australian cities.  

This episode’s guest Marion Terrill is Transport and Cities Program Director at the Grattan Institute. Marion is a leading transport and cities expert with a long history in public policy. She has worked on tax policy for the federal Treasury, and led the design and development of the MyGov account. She has provided expert analysis and advice on labour market policy for the Federal Government, the Business Council of Australia, and at the Australian National University.

Marion’s bio: https://grattan.edu.au/expert/marion-terrill/

Grattan Institute on Twitter: @GrattanInst

Marion’s Australian Financial Review article “Electric vehicles: Feds should pave way for gold standard road user charges” (pay-walled): https://www.afr.com/policy/tax-and-super/feds-should-pave-way-for-gold-standard-road-user-charges-20220822-p5bbss

Grattan’s 2019 report Right time, right place, right price: a practical plan for congestion charging in Sydney and Melbourne: https://grattan.edu.au/report/right-time-right-place-right-price/

The Grattan truck plan: practical policies for cleaner freight: https://grattan.edu.au/report/grattan-truck-plan/

Previous episodes featuring Marion:

https://economics-explained.simplecast.com/episodes/megaprojects-with-marion-terrill-from-grattan-institute

https://economics-explained.simplecast.com/episodes/unfreezing-discount-rates-with-marion-terrill-of-the-grattan-institute

Thanks to Josh Crotts for mixing the episode and to the show’s sponsor, Gene’s consultancy business www.adepteconomics.com.au. 

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