Iowa House votes to add fee for electric vehicle registration

All taxes start reasonably then if there is no opposition you get this

Electric car fees in Michigan would soar under Whitmer’s roads plan | Bridge Magazine

 

At least the EV fee increases are commensurate with the gas tax increase, so it's not just EV owners who will pay more. Their roads must be in pretty rough shape.

 

In Virginia, we are a bifurcated state with a rural Repub half and a Dem suburban/urban half. So the rural half, which has histoircally been in control, demands low gaso taxes. So instead of higher gaso tax, we went to higher sales tax for road projects, whereas the higher sales tax is regional so that rural half gets both low gaso tax and low sales tax.

My sister used to live in the rural half, and she would complain sometimes. I would tell her, she expects northern Virgina to pay for eveything. And she laughed and said, yes that is exactly how we feel. According to some studies, the rural side benefits by far the most from road projects, but the rural folks do not feel that way.

 

Michigan is perhaps the best place to take a stand in favor of gaso hybrids not getting fees.
I believe Toyota and other auto manufacturers are opposed to taxing hybrids extra (non plug-ins). So any state taxing hybrids is going against what the auto industry recommends.

In Toyota's words, the road fees should be technology nuetral. As long as your car only uses conventional fuel (gasoline), there shouod be no reason for a penalty on say hybrids vs. aluminum F150, or any other technology to get better MPG. Now then, if elected officials want to charge a fee on all cars over 25 MPG, that is fair because it does not arbitraily punish a certain type of gasoline car.

 

In reading the article posted above, it appears the Michigan plan would not surcharge gasoline hybrids. But wow...for a pure EV it would be an additional $360 surcharge on top of existing fees! That is getting insane...especially for folks that don't drive much.

Another key point..."The fees would raise roughly $3 million of Whitmer’s $2.5 billion plan".

Yet another 'pick on the little guy' tax.

 

"Little"? Untill recently, EV = Tesla, and those aren't exactly budget cars bought by working class. I bet even now most of EV buyers are in above average income bracket.

So, as always, it's the higher earners who pay.

 

That would be good...but I thought they were already having a hybrid fee in MI...I need a scorecard.

One future market for BEV is presumably older folks as a care-free local-use car, so too much BEV tax certainly hurts some of the potential market.

 

i wish they were care free. according to toyota, they're way more care than a gasser

 

Neither does Vermont. They used to, the registration fee on my 2004 Prius was lower than "regular" cars because they were trying (feebly) to incent people to buy cleaner vehicles that used less gas. I've not yet heard of a plan to add registration fees on EVs/PHEVs. But a flat fee is quite unfair since it doesn't take into account how many miles the car is driven or how many of those are electric and how many are gas. Paying the fee AND a gas tax is double taxation.

Why?

With no consideration for how many of those kWhs relate to miles on the road that would have generated gas tax income were they not EV miles? Or are you talking about BEVs only? Seems like if they are going to charge a flat registration fee on PHEVs there should be some sort of credit on the gas tax paid.

They use 1243 kWh per month??? And not even summer A/C season yet? Wow. That is twice what we use.

 

my daughter worked in the umm transportation lab, they were clueless.

 

Decent size house, multiple kids, work from home with computers running, pool, etc. They don't have A/C but they heat some of the house with under-floor electric heat. The pool heats with solar, but the pump has to run to circulate the water through the collectors. And, the pool pump was recently upgraded to a variable speed high efficiency pump. Even their gas-fired underfloor radiant heat requires a pump to circulate the water. Electric range and clothes dryer. The house is fully LED-lit, so not much there.

 

Almost all states have a formula (similar to what Iowa used), where they estimate the annual miles driven and gas not consumed. They then calculate how much gas tax would be lost and try to get the fee close to that. Most jurisdictions cannot accurately meter and tax electricity for EV use without additional equipment, and who would pay for that?. In some states, they can't tax electricity for this purpose.
At least in Iowa, they assumed 55% of PHEV miles are on electric only, and did the math from there.

It certainly isn't a perfect system, but until something better is developed, it's what is used. Some states are setting the PHEV fee at half the BEV fee but not all (CO, GA, WA do not). And, some states have no fee at all on PHEV, so we get a free ride when on electricity (CA, IA, MN, NE, NC, OR, TN, VA, WI and WY)

 

Sorry..I meant 'little guy' meaning a much smaller population of vehicles...

as in ..."The fees would raise roughly $3 million of Whitmer’s $2.5 billion plan".

 

A better system would be to access a per mile fee on all cars, and it would be simple to apply in many states. Details can be quibbled on, but people will be paying a rate that reflects their actual use of the road.

Electricity is taxed, so I don't think any plug in car is getting a free ride in that sense. With many fuel taxes going into the general fund, they and ICE cars are in the same boat as revenue generators go.

 

How would this be done?

 

... in an efficient way (forget privacy and other concerns)?

 

If it were simple, it would have been done by now. It's not simple, and there are privacy concerns and other impediments (software, etc.)

 

Many states already record odometer readings on a regular basis with safety and emission testing. More record it for vehicle registration. Taxes can be collected at same time as those fees.

 

'This is not an accurate indicator of miles traveled in the state. It's just elapsed miles. If some of those miles were driven in another state, that other state will want their cut. The majority of states in the US do not conduct emissions testing, and fewer states require safety inspections.

 

It was once common practice here to fill up in New Jersey. How would you suggest Pennsylvania get those lost fuel taxes back?
These flat EV fees are also assuming all the miles driven by the EV is within the state. Won't those other states want a cut?

When a lawn care company fills up their equipment at a gas station, it the onus isn't on station to refund them the road taxes. It is on the company to file with the state for the refund. For a simple mileage tax, the burden is going to be on individual or business to track out of state miles and file the paper work if they feel paying for those miles is too much. Otherwise, you resort to vehicle trackers that, in addition to privacy concerns, increase the cost of collection.

Which states don't have vehicle registrations? Which states that do, don't require an odometer declaration? It will be recorded at time of sale.