Featured Illinois Bill Proposes $1000/ Year EV Registration

that seems fair for all the crumbling bridges ev's cause

 

See how long the “the because Muh rOads” guys take to call this a triumph

as opposed to what it actually is.

 

Well, the feds are starting to consider a mileage tax for everyone.

 

...which will likely be added to the US' highest EV penalty tax of $1,000. Illinois is dead broke with a quarter trillion in debt, a good portion from unpaid state pensions. As you all know, political corruption is just the rule of law here. No guarantee that the taxed revenue will ever end up paying for roads and infrastructure. More likely, a group with pockets to fill is behind this huge EV (proposed) penalty - and it is a penalty, believe me. Come on, a 57x increase in registration fees for EV owners?

EDIT: Aha! maybe this...

And no wonder, since the dealer association hates anything Tesla, and no doubt also has a dim view of anything electric as well.

I'm not liking living here one bit. Can't wait to move the heck out. The local, property and state taxes are killing us.

EDIT 2:
PHEV's aren't part of the proposed $1,000 penalty - not yet.

 

Democratic ones yes,
The republican proposal in committee is disbanding gas tax and moving to a very high fixed fee that will be the same for every vehicle regardless of miles
numbers as high as $3500 a year have been floated.

It’s not like fees in general aren’t regressive enough, let’s interfere with paycheck to paycheck folks ability to own a car.

 

*shrug*

This is getting ridiculous. How many more states are going to penalize those who drive electric? It's like... you get <~300 miles, and you pay more for them with states proposing more EV fees. What ever happened to rewarding private EV investors?

I mean, where are consumers saving money anymore?

We all might as well just go buy used hybrids that can go ~500 miles on gas for another decade.

 

If this is passed (it probably won't at the 1k level), I see a cottage industry in Indiana LLC tax shelters for EV owners (similar to what was happening with Montana registrations in the past). Only $100/yr for LLC registration.

We shouldn't get used to the past policies of rewarding EV drivers. I would argue to you that part of the reason that policy was accepted for so long was the perception that EVs were inferior to ICE cars by quite a large margin. With the success of Tesla (and their very very vocal supporters), that perception has changed. Problem is, it's changed in a way that makes portraying EV owners as rich jerks (see: high visibility of said vocal Tesla fans whose smug antics make people bristle) who aren't paying their fair share.

 

Are you saying EV drivers are smug too?

 

Sure, that makes good sense. Illinois has a gas tax of $0.19 per gallon. (The reference is a March article about the Illinois Senate bill, which apparently proposed to set the EV fee at $148 rather than the $1000 in the Illinois House bill.)

In addition to the state's $0.19, Cook County gloms onto $0.06, and Chicago gets another $0.05, for a total of $0.30 per gallon in state and local taxes that EV drivers aren't paying.

So the $1,000 proposed registration fee puts those drivers right back on a level playing field with all the gasser drivers who buy 3,333 gallons of gas in a year, by driving their (average of 9.4 MPG, cell AD3 of DOT spreadsheet here) 31,330 miles every year.

Those pesky EV drivers outside of Cook County and Chicago, who face only the $0.19 state tax, are now back on even footing with their gasser-driving neighbors who buy 5,263 gallons of gas every year and drive 50,000 miles.

Logic is logic. That's all I say.

There's also a US-wide federal tax of $0.184 per gallon, but I didn't suppose the Illinois house was proposing to send any of their $1,000 to DC to replace that, so I left it out. The state sales tax is also applied to gasoline, but I suppose you probably pay that on your electricity too.

 

What the...? Who the heck buys 5,000+ gallons of gas per year? Are you serious?

Average driver drives approx 12,000 miles per year. Even at a dismal 25 miles per gallon, that's 480 gallons.

 

The drivers who damage the roads the most.....trucks.

 

But they aren't being replaced by EV cars.

 

Hmm, so you're saying that using realistic figures for the gas tax not being paid would make the proposed fee look higher than necessary?

How about if they use some of the extra revenue to make admirable gloves for ladies, and summer boots for fine gentlemen?

Exactly ... I wasn't looking at heavy trucks, but at working out what the average yearly mileage of passenger cars and light trucks would have to be to make the "EV fee to recoup lost gas tax" justification believable. 50k miles a year would do it in the rural counties, while only 31k would be sufficient in higher-gas-taxed Chicagoland.

If you know somebody with a gasser who isn't driving it that much in an average year, make sure you get them to step it up and pull their fair weight.

 

For that kind of fee they should throw in a set of these wheels:



That way you can get your moneys' worth of road damage!

heck, those would be great on an unsprung trailer with 800lbs of dirt penned up in it. Heavy enough to hurt a road, light enough to not hurt a small car pulling it. Your EV fee gives you the right to borrow the trailer for a week to take care of all your normal routes.

 

there should be an extra fee on gassers who don't drive that much

 

So a mileage tax.

 

a non mileage tax. the less you drive, the more you pay

 

That’s one way to get the more seasoned drivers to turn in their licenses.