Just registered my Prius here in Mishawaka Indiana and fond out something that really grinds my gears. Apparently lawmakers were pissed Hybrids use less gas thereby give less taxes for fuel purchase to the state, so they initiated a new fee for Hybrid and EV owners. It will cost owners of Hybrids an additional $50 per year to register in Indiana for loss of fuel taxes, and EV owners will have to cough up an additional $150. Hybrid ownership is looking less and less wonderful daily right now.
Bunch of money grabbers... Many stats are now considering similar measures to charge electric/hybrid extra for annual registration. Some stats are now looking in to charging per mileage driven by a tracking devices.
I believe these are local county/state level laws that will come in to play. It's likely that large trucking (interstate) commerce will be excluded.
And they cause a lot of road wear. There are tests of EV, FCV, & hybrids in that sector too. Many are confined within a state at this time.
seeing that electricity costs more than gas here, if they institute a hybrid fee, i will probably go back to a gasser. whatever the powers that be want, i guess.
Wow that stinks as far as hybrid fees. We fought it in Virginia and got it revoked. I can send your Gov a letter if I get around to it...if it seems true. As far as I recall, only Idaho is doing that as far as hybrids... Plug-ins are a different story as some fee is reasonable there. It would be OK to tax hybrids if all higher MPG cars were taxed more. But singling out hybrids for punishment is unfair.
I think it's more fair to institute a mileage based fee and drop all fuel taxes but it should be weighted based on the weight of the vehicle and ALL moneys collected should go toward road maintenance. A Ford 3500 pickup causes more wear and tear to roads than a Toyota Yaris. Also. too many politicians have redirected the money earmarked for roads to other uses. I'll stop there because this part of the conversation is more appropriate in a political thread.
There's something happening here, and what it is ain't exactly clear... Maybe they should reduce registration costs for owners of the big V8's, Ford Excursions, Hummers and the like, while they're at it. Really show their hand.
Agreed there are multiple "fair" approaches. "Fair" does not necessarily mean we like it, but it means hybrids are not taxed more just because someone does not like the word Hybrid.
Add Ohio to the list. Our wonderful representatives here have just passed higher gas taxes and added an additional yearly $100 registration fee for hybrids and $200 for EVs. Total morons.
Repubs are really hung up on it. They demand we go to miles-driven tax formula to make sure everyone pays the same amount. Interesting to see if the Dems give in on that just to get cooperation for infrastructure funding.
Interesting. Here in California it’s the Dems that want to do this. Perhaps it’s just the people in power want more money rather than a political thing?
Yes there is bipartisan push for road funding, just some disagreement on how to get the money. Last Week I sat in on an Bipartisan Policy Center web meeting on transport funding. Repubs want to say we need mile driven taxes and PPP partnerships to build roads. Here in Virginia we have been big time PPP converting HOV lanes to HOT-3 lanes, so lots of talk about Virginia. We have congestion tolling with mega tolls up to $50 to go a few miles at the height of rush hour. And there is no free lane. And we kicked out the free hybrids when the HOT-3 lanes came in. So a few hybrid drivers really got shafted, but I do not know what they were thinking when they moved out the Xburbs with Prii to get a faster free ride in. All good things must come to an end. Virginia orginally invented free HOV for hybrids/plug-ins, so listen up.
We had a similar discussion over here : Minnesota EV and Hybrid surcharge proposal. | PriusChat Minnesota is proposing doing a similar thing...but I really doubt it will happen. It was 'proposed' by a republican controlled legislature to combat a gas tax increase proposal by the new democrat governor. The big discussion is regarding *gasoline hybrids* and the fact the politicians don't seem to understand that *gasoline hybrids* run only on gasoline without any external electrical source. Not to mention that some gasoline ICE-only vehicles can actually get better mileage than some *gasoline hybrids*. The Prius v (wagon) comes to mind. I do know of other ICE-only vehicles that can surpass my v (wagon) on the highway. Doesn't seem fair does it.... Not to mention that folks pay a premium for *gasoline hybrids*....not only do you pay more for the tech, the politicians sock it to us with these fees. Is the Indiana state legislature controlled by the republicans by any chance? Because the majority of states where laws like this have been passed are republican controlled states. Not trying to be political or anything...but frankly, the issue always seems to be politically motivated in one way or another.
Yes in Ohio it was spear headed by a Republican Governor DeWine just 2 months into his term. Ohio is also controlled by Republican state representatives. I agree that they don't even understand how much we are already paying to drive vehicles that are hybrid/EV. EV owners are also paying state taxes on every kilowatt sent to their batteries. This should also be taken into account. As it is, more and more our Representative are penalizing people like us and incentivizing the continued use of gas guzzlers.
EV owners are different...they are avoiding road taxes. But hybrids are fully exposed to paying all gasoline taxes. A hybrid Highlander gets what? 25 MPG and they have to pay a penalty for being a hybrid? Gimme a break.
Pure EVs do not pay gas tax, so they need to be taxed in other ways (I am not proposing the means, just noting the lack of taxation corresponding to gas tax on EVs). Hybrids are pure gas vehicles that fully participate in gas taxation. It's just that they happen to be more efficient and should not under any circumstances be taxed any differently than any other pure gas vehicle. It may be true that the current gas tax is not great at being fair, but then the whole thing needs to be revamped, not just focused on fuel efficient vehicles. Now the plugin hybrids is a whole other issue. They burn gas, but don't have to. So how do you tax them? That is a very good question and I have no idea of the answer.
OK write your senators, I just wrote to mine. I understand there is a bipartisan bill extending EV credits and add'l 400000 vehcile per manufacturer. Let's ask for Hybrid Tax Fairness. Here is what I said: Senator Warner, it comes to my attention that there may be a bipartisan bill extending electric vehcile credits. However, gasoline hybrid vehicles (such as Toyota Prius, RAV4 and many other vehciles, which use no electricity and receive no tax credits) are increasingly penalized by the states. Imagine a 25-MPG Highlander hybrid getting an extra $100/year tax penalty. But many states are doing that in 2018 and 2019. The Federal government should probably make a recommendation or withhold road dollars to states which unfairly penalize hybrids. Perhaps there could be a hybrid-fairness element of the new bill.
