Fuel taxes in Australia

The main fuel tax in Australia is an excise tax, to which is added a Goods and Services Tax ("GST"). Both taxes are levied by the federal government. In Australia, like Canada, the GST (in Australia's case of 10%) is applied on top of the fuel excise tax. In some cases, businesses may be entitled to exemptions or rebates for fuel excise tax, including tax credits and certain excise-free fuel sources.

The double dipping (GST imposed on the excise tax) was fully compensated for by lowering the excise at the time the GST was introduced in 2001 but is still used by motoring groups to convince motorists they are being ripped off. The excise stopped being indexed for inflation in 2001 (see History below), so the effective rate of the excise has been reducing and is now about 22% lower in 2011 dollars.

The tax collected is partly used to fund national road infrastructure projects and repair roads, but most of it (approximately 75%) goes into general revenue.

The excise tax on commonly used fuels in Australia as of October 2016, which applied from the 1 August 2016, was as follows:

Note: Gasoline for use as fuel in an aircraft is taxed at $0.03556 per litre.

The federal government increased the fuel excise tax with effect from 10 November 2014 by restoring CPI indexation to the tax every six months, on 1 February and 1 August. From that date the fuel excise tax increased to 38.6 cents per litre.

The excise tax on commonly used fuels in Australia as of 1 July 2016 is:

Note: Gasoline for use as fuel in an aircraft is taxed at $0.03556 per litre.

There are also a number of various grants and incentive schemes involving tax credits and rebates that generally apply to businesses or industries that rely heavily on the use of fuels, such as transport and aviation. There are also rebates that encourage the production and importation of clean fuels.

The Commonwealth introduced a twice yearly indexation for Consumer Price Index of fuel excise taxes in 1983. The states used to levy fuel franchise fees until the High Court of Australia in Ha v New South Wales (1997) ruled that a licence fee based on the value of tobacco was unconstitutional, as it was an excise tax that only the Commonwealth can levy. The ruling brought into doubt the revenues of the states. In consequence, the federal government introduced a fuel excise tax and gave the revenue to the states.

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