As we all know road fuel for truck and cars is taxed both on the federal and state level. So far I don't believe any states are taxing electricity use for vehicles, but do you see this happening sometime in the future? Electricity as we all know can be generated by many ways, from simple windmills to nuclear reactors, but because of this it may be near impossible to tax. Here in Oregon I just got my electric bill as our electricity is suppled via water power from the many dams on the Columbia River. Kilowatt price is on two tiers, one at about .05 cents and the other at about .07 cents. So, based on that for say .20 cents I could drive a 3,500 lb Prius for 12-15 miles. It just seems the eager to tax politicians will catch on sooner or later.
Lucky you. $.30/kwh here at the second tier where I land. It's just a matter of time before it hits the politicians that these electric vehicles are not paying the gasoline "road" tax (I believe the California the state gasoline tax actually just ends up in the general fund). It will be portrayed as essentially "theft". I can see them trying to mandate specially billed electric meters for charging cars and making it illegal to charge a car except through those meters. Another possibility is for them to require that auto makers provide a non-tamperable electric usage meter on electric cars, like the odometer, and require that you have it read at a designated facility and an associated fee paid before you can do the annual registration.
Perhaps such a tax could be based on vehicle weight and miles driven—GPS units are super cheap (and any one complaining about the infringement on their freedom should immediately destroy their cell phone, along with any other network connected device). To make it completely sensible, insurance should have the same basis. Some estimates have uninsured motorists at around 15%, and it’s crazy to basically pay the same insurance whether one drives 1000 miles or 100,000. Maybe taxes could even be applied to the GPS-reported busiest roads by some formula, since at present the system is strongly biased towards rural/low-use roads. It would sadden but not surprise me if a special tax were levied on EVs, but it would be hugely stupid when we are past peak oil (at a very minimum on a per capita basis).
If it can be taxed, it will be taxed. There may be taxes attached to the public chargers. The State of California already knows if you own a car that can be recharged. The loss in gas tax revenue could also be reclaimed through increased registration fees.
Only in the US can the situation exist where you get a big tax credit for buying an electric car to possibly be followed with an extra electric car tax. Be aware that electricity is already taxed, so it's a weak government argument that they are being "robbed" of the money necessary to support the roads.
They aren't exactly the same. For mileage tracking by GPS to work, the GPS unit has to be on at all times during driving. On the other hand, the GPS on a cell phone can be enabled only when you want to use the GPS. Except that the tax on electricity isn't being used to support the roads, so there is less revenue for roads due to lower income from gas taxes. However, even without the effect of electric vehicles, the current gas tax isn't high enough to cover the road infrastructure.
About the least expensive way to tax would be through registration renewal. You write down your mileage at the time of renewal and are taxed based on the miles driven. It would be mainly on the honor system, but get caught cheating and you face fines and penalties.
Not to imply that we need a monetary incentive to help uncle sam preserve the environment, but between a further tax break for driving environmentally responsible cars and an additional tax for maintaining roads, can't we call it even?
Since the EV and PHEV users are buying more electric and less gas and since users can confirm the extra kWh values, then the state should be able to calculate the extra Electric tax they should receive from the Utility and divert it to their Road Funds.
It might be more of an issue for a state like Oregon with no Sales Tax. As Jimbo (I think) noted, in other states just the sales tax on the price premium exceeds any lost fuel tax revenue.
Our cars will not be the first priority. We use SOME petrol. So far EVs are not a high percent of cars. This is an issue, but not a current priority Your point about sales tax on the price premium makes a lot of sense until you figure that general sales tax is dedicated to a different purpose than the gas tax. General sales tax does not go to road construction and repair.
ukr2: that’d be a good method, though for charging at locations other than home I suppose it might be tidier if the user picked up the tax, rather than, say, Walgreens. (Which is still apparently free in my neighborhood.) ryogajyc: sorry, didn’t mean to imply cell tracking would be via GPS—tower triangulation works well enough most of the time (esp if traveling at 70 mph, allowing the assumption that you aren’t moving across open country). My in-laws (many of whom putt around in Chevys with OnStar) get wound up at the idea that they “are being tracked by the government”.
It seems most logical to me that all cars (EV, PHEV, or ICE) should be taxed on a combination of mileage and weight. The gas tax is unsustainable even without considering EVs. Both a 52mpg Prius and 24 mpg hatchback use the roads the same way. For the same miles, the Prius pays half of what the hatchback does. Any road maintainence tax should be based on miles driven and weight, not gallons used.
Logical, yes, as are many of the comments on this forum. But taxes arise from the political process, and taxation often has little to do with logic. Tax breaks, rates, etc. are often viewed more in terms of rewards/punishments than logical revenue-raising tools. In my neck of the woods (and I believe in many conservative states), electric vehicles and hybrids are usually met with a combination of curiosity, dismissiveness and sometimes outright hostility. They are viewed as the playthings of "liberal elite" treehuggers--as compared to the vehicles "real men and women" drive like Hemi-powered pickups burning federally-subsidized ethanol. In states like mine you can bet that stigma will drive taxation proposals that will spend more in debate and implementation/enforcement than they will raise in revenue...
Agreed, that is the reason I qualified the statement with 'logical' Regulations and taxes rarely, as you stated, are purely logical.
