Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers has said the reduction of the fuel excise will not be extended due to how much it costs.

The amount of tax Aussies pay on petrol was reduced from 44 to 22 cents a litre back in March but that cut is set to expire at the end of September.

Mr Chalmers told Chris Smith, Labor can’t afford to fund initiatives forever and the challenge is “immense”.

“We don’t want to pretend that we can extend them forever,” he said.

“Just to give people a sense of the cost of it – for every six months it costs about 3 billion dollars , that’s about half a billion dollars per month.”

Press PLAY below to hear the full interview and Jim’s comments on the fuel excise

Image: Getty