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Washington State Hits EV's for Road Tax

Discussion in 'Prius, Hybrid, EV and Alt-Fuel News' started by hill, Feb 17, 2012.

  1. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    Apparently Washington is fearing everyone's gona switch to EV's. So, in a premptive strike;

    http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/WA-Senate-passes-100-annual-electric-car-fee-3305434.php

    Makes perfect sense. See - Ms Haugen COULD have simply increased road taxes a few pennies (further encouraging non-clean vehicles owners to make the switch ... just as higher gas prices do) per auto, to the 99.9% of bigger vehicles. But then that might cost her votes. Hit the hand full of EV's and you only loose a few hundred votes ... maybe a couple thousand at worst.
    :rolleyes:
    I note the article states road taxes are the lion's share of fees to do road/repairs. But in fact, the feds to matching funds for major roads, highways, freeways etc ...
    Meah - the man do need to get his share.
    .
     
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  2. Sergiospl

    Sergiospl Senior Member

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    So, is GM going to now say the Volt is not an EV?

    http://green.autoblog.com/2012/02/15/washington-state-senate-passes-100-annual-fee-for-electric-vehi/
     
  3. tomstodola

    tomstodola Member

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    Ever since WA has been forced to limit the registration fees on cars they have been scouring all possible avenues for revenue.
     
  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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  5. GrumpyCabbie

    GrumpyCabbie Senior Member

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    Ha ha ha only in America :rolleyes:


    Let's hit the couple thousand of low pollution vehicles with a tax and let the millions of big heavy gas guzzlers carry on regardless. What a complete back to front mentality.
     
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  6. Sergiospl

    Sergiospl Senior Member

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    I thought Washington State would be interested in cleaner air and reducing oil dependence.

    Rep. Kelly's HR 3768 proposes the repeal of the $7500 tax rebate while the administration proposed to increase it to $10,000.
     
  7. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    I wouldn't mind repealing the $7500 - nor the $2,500 for the PiP . . . . . . if Corporate oilies actually paid no subsidies ... like NO income tax, year after year after year. Of course, that'd mean (at least PART) true gas prices would face us at the pump. We can't have THAT now ... can we.

    .
     
  8. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    True gas prices? That's crazy talk! That would be admitting that the economy's based on environmental destruction, and that growth has limits....no no no, we definitely can't have that.
     
  9. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    You're being far too kind, and not using nearly enough expletives. ;)
     
  10. Roadburner440

    Roadburner440 Member

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    Everyone says the Volt is a hybrid, and a piece of junk. As such I will not pay ANY taxes levied against EV's. Until I get the news media to apologize for slandering the Volt I will not pay a penny. Not to mention the lies, and false information. I mean after all it does only go 20 miles per charge.... So they can't be losing THAT much money in gas taxes from the Volt.
     
  11. Felt

    Felt Senior Member

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    ...

    Also interesting .... in the same report it stated the average yearly income of a Volt buyer is $140k (or something close). The conclusion was the poor are subsidizing the $10,000 incentive so the wealthy could buy a $47,000 vehicle.
     
  12. wwest40

    wwest40 Member

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    The real problem is that our roadbeds are being destroyed by the continual, mostly needless use of studded tires. What we really need is a way to tax studded tire use when they are not required.

    A HIGH tax on studs with a rebate based on actual need for a given area.
     
  13. David Beale

    David Beale Senior Member

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    Uh, guys, "ROAD TAX" is what she is talking about, not gas tax, tax the rich, tax the poor, etc.
    ALL vehicles pay road tax, as it's added to the fuel price. Except EVs. She's just closing that loophole. BTW, even propane is supposed to have road tax added to it. Not much was done to enforce that as the cost would have been rather unproductive due to the small number of vehicles using it. But EVs are the future, and they would need to add the tax eventually.
    So give her the benefit of having the ability to foresee the future. ;)
     
  14. austingreen

    austingreen Senior Member

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    The question is really is it better for the state to encourage plug-ins or some sense of fairness. As you mention, this tax will do little to actually pay for roads as there are very few EVs in Washington state. There aren't even that many hybrids when you are talking about amount of the gas tax and road wear and damage.

    The idea here is pure politics. The majority pay gas taxes and like their ice cars. This woman wants to pat them on the head and make it more expensive for those "rich folks" to drive their green mobiles. It may even make sense if BEVs were 2% of the lb-miles in the state instead of much much less than 1%. The solution is to actually raise gas taxes on the 99.9% which discourages its use. In Wasthington BEVs pollute much less, reduce use of imported oil, and have great deal of advantages for the public good. Its strange that I live in a very red, very oil loving state, and the state is encouraging plug-ins because both parties realize they are good for the state's long term good especially in the 4 big cities where tail pipe emissions are a problem.
     
  15. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

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    Just a reading comprehension question, this has passed the State Senate but not the House and was not signed by the Governor, right?
     
  16. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    Correct: SB5251 bill status

    If you remember the last time these taxes were raised a few pennies, only a few years ago, you'd also remember why the legislators are reluctant to repeat this exercise in futility. It merely provides an easy target for the usual anti-tax initiative sponsors.
     
  17. R-P

    R-P Active Member

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    Really? It's in your (relatively) cheap gasprice already?

    I could rant that our gasprice is WAY higher than yours AND we pay a separate roadtax to boot, but I'm just too tired...:(
     
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  18. ksstathead

    ksstathead Active Member

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  19. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    we pay an excise tax to our town evry year based on the value of the car. i think it's a road tax but who knows where the money goes?
     
  20. xs650

    xs650 Senior Member

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    We USians pay about the same as you do for gasoline, the differences in pump prices are all taxes.