Washington a new fee on Prius Prime

It that for compensating the loss of gasoline tax revenue?

 

Perhaps I’m better off paying 24 cents/kwh

 

Government will always find a way to bleed you dry.

 

i feel bad for volt owners too

 

This is the state whose Governor is running for President based on his "green" credentials.

 

Based on personal experience with him in the prior century, both before and during his time as my congresscritter, I have very little else positive to say about him.

Actually, there is one other positive, and it is a big one: he isn't Trump.

 

It could be much worse. Some legislators were talking about an ODB2 transmitter and charging us per mile. I agree that the $50 will probably go up.

Maybe they could have us pay less on WA Ferries than an F-350.

 

Actually, the fare for a small car is supposed to be 70% of that for a larger car. However, the cutoff is 14'. A Prime is 15'. The Miata I traded in for the Prime was 12.8' so I should have gotten the lower fare. They don't go out of their way to advertise it, so I suspect most drivers aren't aware of it.

 

Since the primary upkeep of roads is through gasoline taxes, if you aren't burning gas you aren't paying for road maintenance. So, the new fees based on EV capacity recoup some of this lost road maintenance revenue. A bill pending in the state Legislature will add a fee for pure-EV vehicles ($75 first year, increasing linearly to $125 in 2024), but they didn't include PHEV's. They likely will add fees for PHEV next year. The local Sierra Club chapter (champion of all that is green) testified in favor of the bill.

In my opinion, as long as we fund road maintenance through fuel taxes, this is perfectly reasonable.

 

How would you propose paying for roads? I'd like to charge based on weight and miles driven, a true user fee, but I don't know how to do that.

I'm surprised Husker didn't move to Kansas...they cut taxes...and Kansas in 2015 had an economy that grew at 0.2% vs. Nebraska's growth of 2.1% that year. Maybe taking an axe to taxes wasn't such a good idea.

 

Not in all states.
Road maintenance in our state comes from a number of sources, one of which is gas taxes.
Registration tabs are another, and state general funds.

I am all for paying for the damage I do to roads. However, the flat fee is completely bogus.
I absolutely agree with others that it should be based on mileage and vehicle weight.
Semi trucks should stop being subsidized and should pay their full fair share.

Frankly, the fuel tax, IMO, should be done away with entirely and replaced with a mileage/weight fee for ALL vehicles.

 

I agree, but don't forget, they will pay those increased taxes with money from increased fees charged to their customers. And those customers will get that money from their customers -- us, or from the wages and benefits of their employees. Ultimately, all taxes and fees are paid by human beings, not by corporations.

 

As they should!
Instead of spreading the cost amount all tax payers, the cost of damage trucks cause should be paid by the customers that buy those products.
This would give a price advantage to local products, and make some of the invisible subsidies disappear.

 

Well said. Problem solved. Why the heck don't they listen to us??!!