Excise on diesel fuel, and excise equivalent customs duty, is budgeted to raise $11.3 billion in 2018-19, and $49 billion over the forward estimates. It is our fifth largest tax.
Diesel excise represents 2.4% of all Commonwealth revenue in 2018-19, and 0.6% of GDP.
Diesel excise is currently (August 2018) levied at the rate of 41.2 cents per litre. An equivalent customs duty is levied on imports. The excise is indexed twice yearly in line with movements in the consumer price index. GST of 10% is applied on top of the fuel excise.
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The government provides a refund of diesel fuel excise to users of diesel fuel who do not use the fuel driving on public roads. This is the Fuel Tax Credits Scheme, which is a budget expenditure ($6.9 billion in 2018-19.) It is not currently modeled in the Budget test, but will be included at a future date.
The model takes account of the impact of changes to Diesel Excise on GST collections, but assumes fuel volumes remain unchanged. Other second round effects, such as differing excise rates between different fuel types, or changes in the popularity of different fuel types (petrol, diesel, electric, etc) are not modelled.