Posted on 01/21/2020 9:25:48 PM PST by nickcarraway
The widespread adoption of electric cars in California is reducing gas tax revenue by millions of dollars a year. That's money that would have been used for road repairs.
Now, drivers of those cars are coming under increasing criticism for not paying their fair share to maintain the state’s roads.
“Electric cars cause as much wear and tear to highways as traditional cars,” said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, a nonprofit lobbying and policy organization.
When California’s controversial gas tax measure Senate Bill 1 was passed in 2017, lawmakers included a $100 annual fee for zero emissions vehicles so that electric car drivers would still contribute towards road repairs. SB1 was expected to raise $5.4 billion a year for the state, with $20 million of that coming from the road improvement fee. But the fee has yet to go into effect and only applies to cars with the model year 2020 or later.
The fee waiver is part of a slew of incentives the state has enacted to encourage Californians to buy more electric cars, with the goal of putting 5 million ZEVs on the road by 2030.
“They ought to pay their fair share,” said Coupal, who points out that most Californians can’t afford to go electric even with the incentives. “That is leaving the middle class and working class to bear the lion’s share of the burden for fixing our highways
"This is a question of elites versus working class," Coupal added.
Proponents say it was a necessary compromise to help repair the state’s roads without creating a major hurdle to the reach the goal for emissions-free vehicles.
There are other ways to reduce emissions without levying taxes on Californians such as making improvements to the transportation infrastructure so that drivers spend less time in traffic, which would mean less driving overall, Coupal said.
The $100 road improvement fee goes into effect July 1.
As long as the state can raise taxes, everything will be fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine.
In June, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice signed Senate Bill 1006, which supports his highway financing and construction plan. The bill increases vehicle registration fees from $28.50 to $50 annually for gas-powered vehicles and inspection sticker prices from $5 to $10. Furthermore, owners of hydrogen-, natural gas-, or electricity-fueled vehicles will pay $200 per year to register. Owners of vehicles fueled by a combination of electricity and gasoline will pay $100 annually.
The electric car. Another stupid liberal idea that cannot even pay for itself...
Washington State has the same problem. They are proposing a mileage tax. That would be an economy killer.
D’oh!
The Day The Woke Turned on Each Other for Being Woke
Electric vehicles produce a problem to tiny to be worth mentioning because each and every single state congressman and state senator effectively diverts more money from road projects every single year than all the people with electric vehicles spent buying those vehicles.
Easy solution. Tack a road fee on to every electric vehicle.
The average person in the average car drives 15M miles per year, hitting about 20mpg. So 750 gallons of gas.
Californians pay just under 74 cents per gallon in taxes. So add it all up, and add a $550 yearly fee to every electric car registration.
Now they pay their fair share!
The widespread adoption of electric cars in California is reducing gas tax revenue by millions of dollars a year. That’s money that would have been used for road repairs. ***
Baloney.
Crooked politicians steal the gas tax money and use it for pet projects, not roads.
Then they have ppl vote on new taxes to fix roads.
Then they steal that too.
Vicious circle of graft.
Just one more group to slap fees on. Nothing to see here. Move along...
As long as we continue to allow the government to abuse the other guy, we’ll continue to be that other guy at times.
It’s time to stand up as a united group and tell our government officials to F O.
Enough already.
California just submitted for ballot new gas taxes to pay for highway repair “honest”.
Well the suckers voted for it. Within months Newsom and the legislature raided the new funds for other purposes.
They can all go to hell!
I don’t mind electric vehicle owners paying a bit more to register their cars, but no thanks to real-time tolling for driving, which is what they REALLY want.
The REAL damage to roads is from trucks. A 8-ton big rig does 400x the damage of a car. source The real wear comes from heavy vehicles line garbage trucks, hummers, and delivery vehicles. Maybe electric cars weigh more and do more damage.
California never has a problem with raising taxes on everyone except the Hollywood celebs.
Illinois just started charging EV owners an extra $100 per year for registration. That is still less than most drivers will pay in state gas taxes which is $.38 per gallon.
This seems to be the fault of the liberal left in Californification again. These people are so stupid they could not pour piss out a boot with the instructions on the bottom.
I saw the electric car thing causing this problem decades ago. No money from gas tax = less money in the coffers for road repair.
Hurry feds, bail these ignorant arses out....
You really want to take seriously an organization with this set of “core values”?
To foster positive connections and inclusive conversations about better places in Minnesota.
Core Values
A better place is one that is…
People-centered: transportation and public spaces should center on people rather than private vehicles
Future-oriented: the built environment should be designed for the needs of future generations, and in the context of a rapidly changing non-human world
Justice-driven: cities, towns, and streets should empower and include people of all ages, especially the vulnerable and marginalized
Delight-cultivating: places should inspire happiness and wonder in all seasons and all times of the night and day
I looked at that chart. There’s no methodology for how they derive that “damage” assessment.
Further, I’ve owned a Hummer H2, and I can tell you empirically that it put less pressure on the road than a Honda Civic due to the far larger tire contact patch. The honda exerts about 90 pounds per square inch (given a weight of 2950lb including a 150lb driver) since it has a tire contact patch of about 9 square inches per tire. Thanks to the Hummer’s larger tire contact patch (around 50 sq inches), it only exerts 43lb per square inch on the road despite weighing 8750lb with the same driver.
Yep - I was thinking they would just impose an across-the board car fee for roads so the only way those who don’t drive electric cars could get their “money’s worth” would be to buy electric...
It’s not going to pet projects.
It’s going to fund public pensions, the reeducation industrial complex, and Medicaid.
License fees for electric cars should be higher to cover their fair share.
Don’t tax the electricity in my home to pay for roads and ‘lectric cars.
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