AUSTRALIAN PETROL TAX

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29713, 5 January 1962, Page 6

AUSTRALIAN PETROL TAX

First Impost In 1902 Petrol became a fair target for Australian governments to tax almost as soon as motorcars began to appear on Australian roads, says the Australian Petroleum Information Bureau's bulletin. As far back as 1902, when people had scarcely accustomed themselves to seeing the new-fangled “horseless carnages." the Australian Government imposed a revenue duty of Vzd a gallon on benzine, as petrol was known in that day The proposal to impose a customs duty on benzine and other petroleum fuels was put forward in 1902 by the then Treasurer, Sir George Turner. He at first suggested an impost of 3d a gallon, but in the course of the debate in Parliament admitted that this was too high as some of the oils were then costing only 2d or 3d a gallon After a lively debate in which the merits of the new liquid fuels were spiritedly considered against those of coal the Government ultimately settled for a modest duly of M>d a gallon This remained unchanged until 1914, when the Government imposed a general tariff on petrol of Id a gallon but left the British preferential rate of ’id a gallon. In 1926 the British preferential tariff was raised by 2d to 2Jd a gallon and general tariff by 2d to 3d a gallon. The increases were made to finance road construction in Australia through the Federal Aid Roads Act. Duties on petrol reached a peak in 1956 when the Government. as an anti-inflation-ary measure, increased customs and excise duties to 13d and 11’id respectively Since then there have been two reductions, the last in the August Budget when customs and excise duties were made uniform at ll%d a gallon.