Proposed Federal EV road fee - draft legislation in the House.

[21st Century Truck]

Folks,

I just saw this in the paper (the Washington Post) today.

Lead paragraph is quoted below.

"The House Transportation Committee advanced a measure last week that would slap EV owners with what would become an annual $150 flat fee. Plug-in hybrids would wind up paying $50 a year. States would collect the tax for the feds, which would raise an estimated $30 billion over the next decade."

I'm posting it here for our general awareness.

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[TaxmanHog]

Please keep the discussion non-partisan and with out offensive terminology/name calling.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/8870/all-actions

https://www.congress.gov/committees/video/house-transportation-and-infrastructure/hspw00/Y-GOxJuK4D0

 

[RLXXI]

The only way to make this new wallet drain fair for everyone is to charge a per mile usage fee. Why should someone that's retired and rarely goes anywhere have to pay the same price as someone that drives 8hrs a day?

If they pass it without a mileage clause, that's unfair taxation.

 

[ryun]

The only way to make this new wallet drain fair for everyone is to charge a per mile usage fee. Why should someone that's retired and rarely goes anywhere have to pay the same price as someone that drives 8hrs a day?

If they pass it without a mileage clause, that's unfair taxation.

Not saying you're wrong (in fact, I completely agree with you), but many states do just this.

 

[BriyGuyUSA]

The issue is, the roads are a shares resource and need to be paid for by all that use it. I am happy to pay for road usage but EV owners should not be penalized when compared to ICE owners. The current administration needs to reframe their approach to EV's and be less biased towards ICE in general. At the very least, they should be treated equally.

Option #1: Leave things the way they are. EV drivers skip out of paying federal tax but is offset by the extra amount paid in state tax than an equivalent ICE vehicle, especially now since some states have removed gas tax due to the cost off gas, and the tax collected on DCFC.

Option #2: Remove ALL tax from fuel and all tax from DCFC. Irrespective of what powers a vehicle, charge $150 a year federal tax for all personal vehicles and charge $TBD a year state tax for all personal vehicles upon registration. Lots of people will complain that the $150 federal + state amounts are more than they are paying now.

Option #3: Remove all tax from fuel. Remove all tax from DCFC. Charge a per mile federal tax and state tax for all personal vehicles. Issue here is if you drive a lot in another state, the state misses out on that revenue even though you are using their roads.

Option #4: Remove all tax from fuel. Remove all tax from DCFC. Pay an extra state and federal tax when purchasing a vehicle. Issue here is if you drive a lot in another state, the state misses out on that revenue even though you are using their roads.

Option #5: Remove all tax from fuel and DCFC. Apply state tax and federal tax to tires instead. The more you drive, the faster your tires wear. Drive more, pay more, drive less, pay less. Again, if you drive a lot in other states, they will miss out on this revenue.

Option #6: All tax non gss and DCFC removed. Single federal tax applied at purchase, on milage or on tires. States collect money they need from this tax based on their knowledge of their own road usage.

I like option 6. Millage based fees may be difficult to implement so taxes on the tires might be better. Downside would be having to pay all that money up front at time of tire purchase. Tax on the vehicle purchase might be a better option as it would be included in the financing but could slow down car sales.

 

[DavidS]

Everyone should be paying for the services they use and/or need to be available. An EV fee is one option. A DC charging tax is another. Wisconsin has implemented both. EV drivers in WI actually pay high per mile fees and taxes than most other vehicle drivers. Politicians job is to balance economic needs with limited resources. Gas taxes haven’t met those demands because powerful lobbyists from both antitax groups and petroleum and auto companies have successfully frozen the at the pump fees for years. The EV fee is disproportionately higher than the average yearly gas taxes because there isn’t the political will to raise the gas taxes not because there isn’t a need. Politicians are pragmatically trying to set the EV fee at the highest level they can knowing their ability to come back later and raise it will be more difficult. This EV fee was dropped last time it was attempted but I suspect this time it will be more successful.
If you feel strongly about this one way or another, contact your representatives in Congress. Posting likes and opinions on the internet is great for sharing information collaboratively but doesn’t impact the legislative process.

 

[BriyGuyUSA]

Everyone should be paying for the services they use and/or need to be available. An EV fee is one option. A DC charging tax is another. Wisconsin has implemented both. EV drivers in WI actually pay high per mile fees and taxes than most other vehicle drivers. Politicians job is to balance economic needs with limited resources. Gas taxes haven’t met those demands because powerful lobbyists from both antitax groups and petroleum and auto companies have successfully frozen the at the pump fees for years. The EV fee is disproportionately higher than the average yearly gas taxes because there isn’t the political will to raise the gas taxes not because there isn’t a need. Politicians are pragmatically trying to set the EV fee at the highest level they can knowing their ability to come back later and raise it will be more difficult. This EV fee was dropped last time it was attempted but I suspect this time it will be more successful.
If you feel strongly about this one way or another, contact your representatives in Congress. Posting likes and opinions on the internet is great for sharing information collaboratively but doesn’t impact the legislative process.

As it's a house bill, I figured it would be best to reach out to my rep. You can find your house rep here: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

This is what I sent:

I wanted to reach out to you regarding a draft house bill that I am aware of that, if becomes law, will result in unfair taxation of some of our citizens. The draft bill is an annual, nationwide registration fee of $130 for electric vehicles. I understand that each and every one of us are responsible for paying for our roads but as the average ICE driver pay only $73 to $89 a year in federal fuel taxes, it is unreasonable and unfair to expect owners of EV's to have to pay more than what an ICE owner would have to pay. This, along with the current GA registration fee that EV owner also have to pay, which is also higher that what ICE owner would have to pay, feels like we are being penalized for choosing an EV. I would ask that you look into this bill so it can either be modified to make it fair, or replaced with something that imposes are fair tax on all road users.

 

[oldman_74]

I am all for taxing EVs after the billionaire class start paying their fair share of taxes and all luxury jet owners, Lear etc pay a fair tax for over polluting as well as added taxes on yachts for pollution there is a whole list before we start taxing once again the middle class for cutting green house emissions and making some attempt to cut fossil fuel usage. BTW how about stop all the oil company subsidies that in itself will pay for all the roads and bridges. Off my soap box

 

[jefrank]

Happy to pay the amount that equates to the 13k miles I drive a year, but at a federal gas tax of 18.4 cents/gallon, $150 = ~815 gallon of gasoline. At 13k miles a year, that's an average of < 16 mpg. Considering that our trucks average more like 50 MPGe, I'd seriously be overcharged. Either flat-fee everyone for personal vehicles or figure out a way to charge per mile that isn't using GPS to track us all.

Update to add that Michigan already hits us for a flat $267/year with an about triple gas tax of 52.4 cents/gallon.

 

[WildBlue]

How about they adjust the gas tax for inflation and raise it since it hasn't changed since 1993. I would say that ICE drivers aren't paying their fair share now.

 

[F150guy]

Hate to say it, but it's tolls. It's based on actual use.

 

[Ted23Lightning]

The only way to make this new wallet drain fair for everyone is to charge a per mile usage fee. Why should someone that's retired and rarely goes anywhere have to pay the same price as someone that drives 8hrs a day?

If they pass it without a mileage clause, that's unfair taxation.

I completely agree. The main reason I swapped my 4Runner for the Lightning is because I was given a company van. It killed me to see the 4Runner just sitting there in the driveway letting ethanol gas eat away at it while it barely got driven. And where I live in MD, I already pay more for EV registration surcharges as it is :/

 

[Dan C]

With every agency and municipality struggling to make ends meet, you can expect to pay more for everything right or wrong.

 

[fhteagle]

Road taxes need to be fuel type agnostic, and administered at the state and local level only.

base admin fee + a charge for mileage times ( max axle weight to the 4th power + pollution mitigation charges ) . Any other formula, flat rate, etc is guaranteed to be unfair.

Further, any non-excise ( such as on completely optional activities as alcohol, tobacco, etc ) taxes need to stay at the state level to be compliant with the constitution. No the fraudulent and never correctly ratified 16th amendment does not count. This pulling funds up to the Fed level and hoping they don't get held as extortion is not okay. Framers of the constitution knew this when they made apportionment back to the states a requirement for all non-excise taxes.

 

[Jseis]

I worked 4 decades in public sector positions that gave me insights into public infrastructure and the maintenance thereof.

In the county that I live, our roads as “modern”, cleared-sidecut/filled graded-compacted-rocked-paved are 100 years old on average. Many were dirt paths-graveled the first 25-50 years of their life. Bridges where 1920’s-30’s all wood timber trestle whose replacement began in the 80’s with modern deep pile supported concrete truss. Culverts fail, slumps and landslides cause havoc. Cities have less $$ than the county which has less $$ than the state and without fed gas tax $$$ many local jurisdictions (city, county, state) counties would be SOL. A powerful state senator once commented to me that for every 1$ we raised locally in state gas dollars our county got $3 back. Pretty good high stakes political poker.

Roads are the arteries of our economy. Absolutely necessary for the movement of people, goods, services. The downside is that vehicles are expensive, commuting sucks, and the $/mile is rising and is near $.75/mile in our state (that’s the states reimbursement for personal vehicle use). And roads are costly to maintain. Except for concrete bridge decks, our roads are all asphalt-petroleum based. Petroleum plays a huge role in any vehicle (tires, plastics, lubricants, insulation, paint, etc). 60 years ago my parents bought a new 4 door sedan-Olds for ~$2500 which inflation adjusted would cost $25,000 today. They paid .25 cents a gallon for gas which is equivalent to $2.48. But new cars are well more than $25K and gas well… here regular is at $6.00 per gallon. Personal vehicle transportation is a choice and a $$$ suck.. plain and simple.

My parent’s jobs were within 1 mile of our home. Dad frequently walked to work for exercise and his friends would constantly stop and pick him up.. so he switched to a bicycle. But my career was far more “mobile” and 6 positions in 40 years requires choices. And I drove.

I recall state transportation seminars in the 90’s where EVs were specifically discussed and VMT was the only logical solution. However, the old model, live close to where you work, is still the best solution. My career work mileage is near 1,000,000 miles. While I did receive excellent income and a transportable pension… it cost time, depreciation $, operating $, and too many near death experiences. In my last decade I tended to take photos to remind me why I chose to live in rural America.

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