For those in wa state that may no be aware the new law takes effect on OCT 01 2019, hybrids that dont qualify for the electric car fee now they will have to pay a $75 hybrid fee, the law does not specify if only for those hybrids plug in or all hybrids, ( Couldnt find it) so the fee may apply for all hybrids, the electric car fees goes up as well, now is $288 plus all local taxes.
... pushing my annual registration renewal to $320, for a 7 year old car. This won't help our governor, currently jetting around the nation in his bid to become the Democratic Party nominee for President, to raise his polling numbers above 0%.
I pay $300 for my hybrid/electric in this state, and I was angry at first. But after thinking about it some, I really am paying a lot less in gas taxes, and a lot of those taxes are earmarked for roads. And I for one want them to spend more on roads, at least until we get flying cars. and $300, ehh, not enough to matter after what i paid for the car.
Yeah, at least it's a static amount. Seems somewhat analogous to welfare recipients starting work, having their welfare checks cut by what they earn. Just checked, this time last year our car had just about 4100 miles less on the odometer: Drive a hybrid, and reduce your travel, you really get punished.
Fuel taxes weren't keeping up with road maintenance costs long before hybrids came along. The fuel economy of cars and trucks have been improving in general. Hybrids are a small part of the fleet. Taxing them extra will not address the first two points, which are the main contributors to the shortage of infrastructure funds. They are just a scapegoat. Some states include a property value tax with car registration. In those those states, a Prius is paying more in that tax than a Corolla every year. I believe that is what the question was asking about. Some of these hybrid and plug in tax proposals are more than what an ICE car is paying in fuel taxes.
Bingo The correct solution is to increase the gas tax or institute more tolling. Special cleaner vehicle taxes is the opposite of a climate action plan.
Neither increasing gas taxes or instituting more tolling are climate action plans either. They are methods to collect revenue for road maintenance.
Gas tax is 23c a gallon here, and the average car gets about 20MPG (a lot of big fugly SUVs), and I drive 20,000 miles a year, so that's about $230, so I paid $70 more than that for the first year. I'll have to see my next year's tax bill to see what has changed, but I bet I pay less than the SUV guy pays. (the $300 additional tax is only the first year.) . We pay a yearly property tax in addition to the gas tax, and I expect my property tax rate is different than the SUV's.