Road-related Revenue and Expenditure
Chapter 3
This chapter provides information on the Government’s total expenditures and sources of revenue for road-related activities for the Commonwealth, state and local Government (noting only expenditure is shown at the local level). A variety of sources are used for this data, including data from the Australian Tax Office, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, BITRE estimates and State and Territory Governments.
- Road related expenditure by all government slightly increased from $33 billion in 2020-21 to $36 billion in 2021-22 (latest available year).
- $28 billion in road-related revenue was collected by all government (excluding road-related revenue from the Goods and Services Tax, Fringe Benefits Tax and the Luxury Car Tax).
Figure 1 Road-related expenditure, by level of government (constant 2021-22 prices, adjusted by CPI)
Government’s road-related expenditure over time can be seen in Figure 1. The State/Territory Government expenditure is at an all-time high in 2021-22 at 23 billion dollars. The Commonwealth’s expenditure fell to 7.7 billion dollars in 2021-22 from a record high of 9.5 billion dollars the previous year. Local government expenditure has remained relatively stable over time, with an average of 5.8 billion dollars over the past 24 years.
Figure 2 Australian Government Road-Related Revenues
Figure 2 shows road-related revenues for the Australian Government, while Figure 3 shows revenues for the States and Territories (excluding tolls). Figure 2 highlights how the Commonwealth’s main source of road-related revenue is from the net road-related petroleum excise with an average of 12.6 billion dollars over 10 years.
Figure 3 State and Territory Government Road-Related Revenues (excluding tolls)
Figure 3 illustrates that the majority of revenue for the states/territories is vehicle registration fees with an average of 8.3 billion dollars per year over 10 years and a maximum of 9.1 billion dollars in 2020-21.