Featured Feb 2020 Consumer Reports EV Registration Fees

In Washington state things are still up in the air... Last legislative session a last minute right-winger added a $75 fee for all hybrids and to make it seem legit claimed that money would be directed towards alternative energy infrastructure upgrades, which in the long run might not be totally untrue.

Meanwhile, another right-winger had a ballot initiative dropping all car tab fees back to $30 and it won decisively in early November and then all the lawsuits from Seattle and others who's entire transportation funding is based on maximizing both fossil fuel consumption, as well as maximizing car tabs fees got the courts to suspend implementation. The Washington state constitution gives way more authority to ballot initiatives than other states. So much so that the left-leaning attorney general is leading the defense of the right leaning ballot initiative.

It's a huge mess and the biggest problem is there's no income tax in Washington state, so all other existing forms of revenue generation are horribly abused and too often increased... We're already up to almost 10% sales tax in our state, which disproportionally makes the poor pay much more than the rich when it comes to income. Additionally, business & operation taxes are also out of wack with big corporations like, Microsoft, Amazon and Boeing negotiating special deals with the state so they pay almost nothing and all the other smaller businesses have to pick up the slack. Meanwhile, our road infrastructure, especially bridges is more than 40 years behind on upgrades when compared to California and Oregon.

 

“Like” as in dislike.... Thanks for the heads up-there!

 

Should also be noted that
“the same as a gas car pays”
is assuming a rather low fuel economy mini van driving 15,000 miles and not the same as an equivalent gas or hybrid car.

my state which is white charges a very high hybrid/ EV title fee in addition to the increased registration fees.
$555/ $665 (non-plug in gas hybrid/EV)
first year plus sales tax vrs $125 ish (depends on the county) for a gasser.

that fee is good for about 10 years of gas tax on a standard economy car.

 

That's oddly specific. They could have just said they need 1000 gallons worth of taxes to be made up each year per car.

 

In part, that is one of the AG's legal responsibilities, whether s/he likes it or not. Notice how the initiative writer has complained about the AG not being aggressive enough in its defense.

Almost? A dozen cities are already past that. Seattle is 10.1%, King and Pierce Counties have cities at 10.2%, Snohomish County has many at 10.4% and 10.5%.

 

I gather that the Bill to this effect in Texas has, for now, died.

I personally, for our Prius Prime, am completely fine with paying taxes comparable with what a regular Prius would charge me.

However, I’m absolutely against a flat mileage-based tax. Transportation-related taxes are not only for raising revenue, but also for encouraging efficiency (or should be at least).

A mileage-based scheme with a scaling factor based upon energy consumed per mile for that type of vehicle would work for me.

 

Not like gas taxes will go away with a mileage tax.

 

I've been following the AG's work on this and I think that it's much, much more aggressive than other AG's would have done and any effort would never be enough effort for initiative writer Eyman. It will be interesting to see what the courts allow in terms of his efforts to intervene...

 

Just your normal CR poor quality reporting. They missed Illinois' $248 EV reg. fee entirely. Went up from $18 per year previous to 2020.

 

ICE cars (Hybrid and PHEV's) have been $101 for a couple years here in Illinois. Don't know what you read.

 

White areas mean no plug in difference right? With property (again) in 3 states ... Cali - MT & TN We're set. Next car DEFINITELY gets registered in MT - where there is (still) no sales tax.

Georgia is the mystery. At one time, it was tied for highest state cash rebates for plugins. Now, they're charging more for registration?
.

 

You might be on to something... you could theoretically finance a lot of rebates with a stiff registration fee in place to recoup it over time.

 

It's Eyman. He needs to keep the outrage machine rolling or else he'll run out of money.

Agree. WA State funding structure is pretty horrific. For a progressive state, it has a pretty regressive tax structure.

 

This guy is responsible for the $400-$600 increase in title and registration here

John Nichols: Why is Scott Fitzgerald running for Congress if he doesn't like legislating? | John Nichols | madison.com

I wish the map would also show what states have the sometimes dramatically more expensive title fees, since registration cost is only part of the problem