Limits on State taxing powers - the Vanderstock excise case

This video is about the constitutional limit on the States imposing an excise. It discusses the historical meaning of excise and how the High Court has changed its interpretation over time. It then critiques the High Court's 2023 decision in the Vanderstock case, which expanded the meaning of the term "excise" to include a variety of other taxes that a State could previously have imposed. The Vanderstock case concerned a charge upon the usage of electric vehicles after they had already passed into the hands of the consumer. This charge was held to be invalid, resulting in uncertainty about the validity of other State taxes, and increasing vertical fiscal imbalance in Australia, which was already very high.