Now NJ Wants To Tax Electric Cars

While it is double taxation (unfortunately no constitutional problem with that), the amount of money paid for electricity tax is probably not enough to cover the road maintenance. I don't know NJ rate structure but looking at NC, I will pay less than $10 a year on electricity tax for the increased use of my Leaf. I believe we pay 3% and going over $300 is unlikely.

You know - taxing EVs per mile makes sense. But when did taxation actually make sense? The gas tax in NJ is too low and they make up for it with tolls (which again arguably makes sense). But someone really needs to worry about overhead of taxes. We all know the overhead on a tax like this will be unreasonable (defined by me as >10%) for many many years.

 

That's the intent, but the language is confusing and regularly changing, so people may not end up paying based on how their lawyer interpets it.

For the EV tax, since NJ is willing institute the bureaucracy of the filling out and processing another tax form. They might as well eliminate the gas tax and do this per mile tax for all vehicles.

 

^^^ I see the exit tax is minimum 2% on house value if you leave NJ. I have family that just moved here from Jersey, so they got hit pretty darn hard. I moved 2001 before it was bad.

The northeast states (VA, NJ) that are considering or implementing green car fees do not seem to have a rational explanation. Sales taxes alone on a more expensive green car makes up for any minor loss in state gaso taxes (which are very low in VA and NJ). In the case of NJ, they give an incentive for BEV, so OK in that case. Once the incentives are depleted though, I see no justification.

 

Double taxation is a favorite tactic for politicians...
Corporations pay taxes on profits, then issue dividends with some of what's left over and individuals pay a second tax on the dividends.

IMO, the NJ tolls make perfect sense. Lots of people (including me when I lived on the east coast) just drove right through NJ without ever wanting to stop. Stopping to pay the tolls gives drivers a reason to stop in NJ.

Mike

 

Hybrid drivers may save on gas but new tax gotcha

+1

Which leads to things like apple, one of the biggest tax payers, hording cash overseas instead of paying higher dividends. If they were to bring that money back to the US, they would need to pay corporate taxes on it, then stock holders would pay 20% tax on the dividends. Instead the US government gets about 17% of apples profits, much less than if tax laws were reformed, and apple is one of the good guys, many companies hide much more money over seas.

lol. I mainly fly into newark, then get onto the train to NYC. I know I have spent some time in the state, but that was long ago.

 

...you were making a big mistake not stopping in NJ for gaso...cheapest in the nation as fas as I know. OK maybe not a really big mistake in the scheme of things.

 

you get what you voted for...

 

I have been drive a diesel for years. I get about 44 mpg. When I first got my tdi I paid less than regular gas. The last few years I pay more than premuin. All because of taxes.

 

Not all. The ULSD requires further refining, which takes more energy, and thus cost more to make.

 

Also ethanol policy shifted U.S. product demand from gaso to diesel in the refineries, which had been designed for max gasoline in U.S.

 

^^^^

Diesel is less expensive on an energy basis than E10. You can do the math. Diesel has about 15% more energy than a gallon of E10, price fluctuate though, depending on the gasoline blend. Summer blends have more energy, winter less.

Federal Taxes on diesel are 6 cents higher per gallon, I'm not sure why, but this is minor, and was put in place in the 90s. ULSD process added about 10 cents per gallon versus that time period.

A main driver though is demand in the rest of the world for diesel. Gas costs used to absorb some diesel costs, since americans bought more gasoline. In the global markets today, refineries create the most profitable mix, and export the excess diesel.

 

^^^ furthermore, gasoline is in excess so EU sends excess gaso here, reducing gaso price relative to diesel.

 

Diesel is used in the transportation industry to deliver products to stores. Ultimately that cost is passed to consumers

 

Absolutely true.

Many of are happy with the ULSD, which while it adds about a dime a gallon, greatly reduces the particulate and sulfur dioxide emissions from diesels, and allows for better pollution control devices.

The fact that diesel gets taxed more per unit energy than gasoline, doesn't make much sense to me. These taxes were set in the early 90s when diesel was relatively cheaper. Now we kick into the federal roads with income tax dollars as inflation has gone up, efficiency has gone up (less fuel per vmt), but taxes have remained at the same rate per gallon. Its long past time for some tax reform, but congress has a way of making things worse. The last actual reform seemed to take place in the 80s.

 

Cars are imported from Detroit. Do you now need a passport to go there?

DBCassidy

 

If fuel taxes are intended to offset the cost road maintenance, a comparatively higher tax on diesel than gasoline does have some logic behind it. A loaded commercial truck far outweighs a typical car. Roads need to be reinforced to handle the weight which adds to the cost. Almost all these trucks use diesel. Trucks don't use gas because the drop in fuel economy would result in higher costs.

 

A loaded truck already pays more because they get lower mpg. The real question is what is the fuel required per pound. And what is the road damage done relative to the fuel consumed?

Mike

 

Heavy trucks pay much higher tolls on bridges and toll roads compared to cars, light trucks and bikes. Tolls are charged by axle count and weight. Logs filled out by the driver show miles traveled and a breakdown of miles traveled in each state, so that proper taxes can be paid. Trucks do pay for breaking down the roads. Many roads have never been upgraded to deal with modern traffic, repairs to inferior roads break up quickly. You know that the lowest bidder wins to do road construction and repairs right?
People go out of state to buy fuel to save some change while complaining about the sad condition of their state's roads and finances. Nothing like poking yourself in the eye, eh?