Government finds way to hike fuel tax

October 28, 2014
The Age
Fuel tax will go up in November after the federal government found a way around a Senate blockage to its bid to reintroduce indexation.
The tax will initially increase from 38.143 cents a litre to 38.6 cents a litre from November 10.
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said the government would use “tariff proposals”, to be tabled in parliament this week, to bring about the hike.
The same type of proposals were used by the Labor government to push up the tax on alcopops.
From November 10, the rate of fuel duty will rise from 38.143 cents a litre to 38.6 cents a litre – the rate that would have applied had the laws passed the Senate before August 1.
Indexation of fuel duty will then return to biannual CPI indexation from February 1, 2015.
It is expected to cost an average household about 40 cents a week by the end of 2014/15.
“While the impact on individual households will be modest, this measure will provide a predictable and growing source of revenue, which will help the government boost its investment in job creating and productivity enhancing road infrastructure,” Senator Cormann said.