The Liberal Democrats want bring Australia back to the “glory days” of “less than $1 a litre” for petrol.
Senator Duncan Spender said the current fuel excise was “ridiculously high”, News.com.au reported.
“Most of Australia right now would be less than $1 a litre fuel under the Liberal Democrats plan,” Mr Spender said.
“It’s been a long time since people remember $1 fuel, you’d probably have to go back to the 20th century, but that’s what we should be paying.”
According to News.com.au, abolishing the fuel excise would result in an average tax cut of around $400 for each person in Australia.
“It’s a sore thumb tax that sticks out, it doesn’t really line up with the rest of the tax system,” Mr Spender said.
“We shouldn’t be paying this ad hoc tax on this particular item.”
Mr Spender has proposed abolishing university subsidies of around $11 billion per year to pay for a fuel tax plan.
“We believe students should be able to get income-contingent loans so people of all backgrounds can go to university, but you should abolish the separate subsidies that go to universities,” he said.
“People who go to university earn $1 million more over their lifetime. The current subsidisation of universities basically involves poor people subsidising the people who will end up being the rich.”
Fuel excise increases every year in February and August.