Neil Mitchell: Victorians have paid $1 billion in ‘hidden tax’ for a service they’ll never get

Victorians have been slugged more than $1 billion in taxes for a service they’ll never get.

A $35 levy on vehicle registration was brought in by the Liberal state government in 2012.

Budget papers indicated the tax would pay for a new registration and licensing system at VicRoads.

The Labor government scrapped the project in 2015, but the levy remained.

Figures on the tax have been published before, with the Herald Sun estimating it had cost Victorians $800 million by 2018, but that figure has now ballooned to more than $1 billion.

“The tax is still here, but the project it was funding was scrapped six years ago!,” Neil Mitchell said.

“Now the licensing and registration system is being privatised anyway, so even less reason for a tax to build a system we’ll never get!

“That’s the way of governments, isn’t it, once you impose a temporary tax it stays forever. That’s why we’ve got to look at electric car taxes very, very carefully.”

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