"Hybrid Tax" (or fee) in your state? Legal?

If Hybrid tax is considered illegal, then I would vote Hybrid and Plug-in tax credit should be illegal as well

 

I believe this is fair. Sooner or later, other states will follow.
Also free electricity for charging is almost thing of the past.
I have always said "You must pay for economy or fuel efficiency" meaning there is no free lunch.

 

I disagree. As the OP stated in point two, the tax credit was to get the populace to follow government policy, which is to lower our dependence on foreign fuel imports. This reflects a National Security Policy which states that energy dependence is a threat to our country. Therefore, a Hybrid Tax or Fee is contrary to government policy and by this definition, unconstitutional...

 

The fee has been proposed here in Michigan. I feel the state should lower the max allowable weight for trucks (much higher than neighboring states) and change the gas tax to match the 6% state sales tax instead of a fixed amount per gallon. Persons who drive fuel-efficient cars, which are usually light and have less impact on the roads, should not be penalized with an additional fee.

 

That's my point. It's wrong to charge people with Hybrid's an extra fee. The gas tax should be increased for everyone! That would reflect our government's policies... However, the truth of the matter is that when a politician poses a Hybrid Tax or Fee, they are just counting votes and thinking that they will lose a few hundred votes from Hybrid drivers, but they would lose almost ALL their votes if they did the right thing and raised the gasoline tax...

 

One argument at a time please. I originally said if hybrid tax was illegal, then so should plug-in/hybrid tax credit. You disagree with it and started another argument.

 

It's not an argument. It's a discussion... I didn't start another argument. I was trying to discuss my point.

 

" jnet" is a troll well known to the Prius Plug-in boards here. He is better known as "prius_in_pa" and "Dan Cathy", two of the last screen names he used here recently. He has toned down his rhetoric, and no longer using "obscene" language and is slightly less tangential and derailing of threads, but still less inclined on discussion and more of argument.

He is still in violation of the terms of use of the site. If he is really interested in rules, he should suspend himself for violating the terms of use again. Simply misrepresenting himself, prending to be someone else, is cause for removal.

 

I smell a tea-party!

 

prius_in_pa,

Alas, again, no you did not. Apparently you did not read the definitions provided to you by other members. Ad hominem attacks again, though, yes.

 

come on, make me laugh with your PiP B.S. It's been a long day.

 

Send $65 to the politician who opposes or wants to change the "transportation deal" and a copy of the letter and check to those who claim it was a great deal. Make sure it is a letter and addressed to them.

To make a change, make politics and money talks . . .

Bob Wilson

 

Welcome qdllc, I have been fighting this since last February.
I tried without success to get legal support on fighting the VA hybrid fee.

The VA fee is designed to hold hybrid drivers responsible for under-payment of state + federal gasoline taxes. I feel the Federal gov't should step in and say: that is not allowed for VA re: Federal taxes.

VA reduced the state gaso tax and it's minimal (11 cents/gal) so the tax there would be smaller penalty.

Many other problems with VA's implementation of the hybrid fee. It makes no sense in our state, given taxes are already excessive on cars like Prius (we pay higher car taxes every year on a Prius + hybrid fee). What the Republicans did, without any study, was announce that hybrid drivers were underpaying taxes and so we need this new hybrid fee. The public was thus informed, and the dems only weakly pushed back. Believe some lousy hybrids get <25 MPG and we still charge them a $64/yr fee for the crime of buying a hybrid in VA! It's just nuts and reflective of our dysfunctional government in action.

I feel we need to study (official study) the car taxes and prove that Prius is one of the most heavily taxed cars in VA (even before the new fees are tacked on). Delegate Scott Surovell intends to start a repeal effort in the Fall. After they congratulated themselves for a large tax hike on Northern Virginians, the Dems finally capitulated (got clobbered for accepting) the Hybrid fees and now say they plan to nix it in 2 yrs. That is the hope.

PS- For out-of-staters, Virginia's hybrid fees were part of a huge tax increase in VA for transportation needs. The dems said Virginia will die if don't get countless $Billions for the things we want to build like extend DC Metro subway to Dulles airport from DC. The Repubs said OK we give you that massive tax hike if: (1) Dems tax their own part of the state (North VA) and leave the repub areas tax neutral and (2) Repubs want to reduce state gasoline tax and tax hybrids. The Dems were fine with this arrangement.

 

One 'benefit' of MS totally ignoring hybrids, (I see more Hummers a day than Prius) is that they do not penalize them.

 

NC has had discussions on imposing an annual $50 hybrid fee. I just received my tax and registration renewal satement and do not see the hybrid fee.

There has been several threads on this topic. I can see their logic in trying to recover lost gasoline taxes to help with highway maintenance. Yet there has to be a more fair way to do this. This sends a message to discourage the purchase of hybrid vehicles and encourages the purchase of low mpg vehicles that pay more gas taxes.

 

You are getting close to the central theme here (politics as usual) but keep in mind Virginia's new transportation bill raises $Billions for new roads and rail systems, the hybrid fee is just peanuts, a few million.

What I was told by my local elected official, the rural southern VA repubs in areas where the economy is now weak are forced to drive 100-mile commutes in old gas guzzlers to find work, at considerable fuel cost. They are angry (about several things) but affluent drivers in northern VA with Prii saving money on gasoline is one really sore point.

In deference to this attitude, the Repub-controlled state legislature reduced the state gasoline tax and slapped a fee on hybrids. More a mis-guided fairness message I think re: hybrids.

If you say gasoline taxes hurt the poor the most, you could argue that VA repubs did the right thing to lift the gasoline tax burden on the rural areas. What I objected to was raising the sales tax selectively on North VA only to make up the state-wide gasoline tax reduction...that makes no sense to me. Now we really have two states in one.

By the way, the gasoline tax reduction already seems to really be giving the rural areas a much lower gasoline price. Here in North Virginia we are actually seeing higher gaso prices, I think because MD increased gaso taxes and the oil companies try to charge equal $/gal around the state borders and they also charge more to those who can afford to pay more. So NoVA gets a sales tax increase+gasoline price increase.

 

I think a hybrid tax is both unfair and illogical. Punishing the people who are saving us money through their transportation choice is not a viable solution. All forms of transportation are subsidised - including cars, for which drivers pay about half the costs - so we all pay at least something towards other's mobility. User pay is the only fair way, and makes far more sense than paying for public transit through taxes on property and gasoline, and paying for roads through income taxes.