Bill to remove the EV tax credit, and actually add a tax for EVs

Anyone else see it as a near-certainty that we will see a fresh round of taxes added to electric bills?

I really think that the budding success of EVs is going to result in a "national electrical infrastructure improvement tax" eventually appearing on electric bills.

If we move a significant amount of our energy demand from the pump to the wire, we're going to have to build up more wiring infrastructure.

 

Around here they want to increase the private fixed electric fee to at least $50 a month before tax and delivery

 

We are getting those improvements from the state of Virginia and Dominion energy, which basically work togther as a state/utility consortium/monopoly. Dominion ran an expensive series of TV ads saying they absolutely must spend billions on smart grid enhancement, and the rate payers must pay for this including a big proift margin to Dominion for this work. The elected officials were on board with this idea and pushed it thru. More or less out of the blue, this plan instantly materialized and was passed.

 

As far as hybrid (Prius/HEV) fees, Idaho/Indiana and maybe MI? do that.

 

Well what about people who buy gas not for vehicles. Law mowers,boats,generators, snowmobiles they are taxed for hyway infrastructure repairs. Let's be fair. The gasoline Highway tax was just because most usage for gasoline was for cars. Put a tax on fuel and help repair the roads. I know it's the extremes but I mean really. What they should do is take off the gasoline tax and make it fair by a vehicle registration tax.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

When the tax is in the fuel, you can't go places without paying tax.

When the tax is in the registration, you can still go places without paying tax. Only people who register their cars will pay that tax.

You would hope that everyone with a car registered and paid, but they won't.

Our economy is so dependent on a functioning roadway system that a screw-up on collecting the revenue to maintain it could have enormous consequences.

 

This issue is already addressed in current tax law. For diesel powered equipment, these people can simply buy fuel from the untaxed off-road pumps. Where my dad gets his farm fuel (an agricultural supply warehouse, no-where near any highway truck stops), the taxed and un-taxed diesel pumps are side-by-side.

For gasoline equipment, such users can file for tax refunds. Rules vary by state. The federal portion of the tax is refundable only to businesses, not individuals.

For my state (emphasis added):
"You may be eligible for a refund of the Washington State fuel tax if you're:

• An individual or company who bought at least 41 gallons of Washington tax–paid fuel in the past 13 months
• and
• You used it for off road activities like:
  • boating
  • construction
  • farming
  • logging
  • landscape/lawn maintenance ..."

Here are some additional resources:
Fuel Sales and Taxes: Exemptions - FHWA Motor Fuel Tax Compliance Outreach
WA State Licensing (DOL) Official Site: Fuel tax refunds
Motor Fuel Tax Refund for Off-Road Use

 

If this bill goes through before the end of the year what does it mean for me if I got my Prime in Sept?

 

I wouldn't worry about it, you're still covered.

 

These take-aways are only very rarely retroactive. It is much more likely that there will be some period, usually a few months, from bill passage and law signing until the actual credit deadline.

 

I doubt the bill will pass, because electricity is subject to tax and like gas tax, can increase overnight. Especially at super charger stations.

Tesla super charger stations include taxes and fees into their rates. And they keep raising their rates, not to make a profit (so far).

In CA a base Model 3 with 50kwh battery and gets about 200 mile range pays for almost the same rate as a Prius driving the same range at each fill up. Even higher in the state of HI (and they get most of their electricity from oil).

Supercharging | Tesla

Also California is not quite green yet. We still burn much of our electricity on natural gas. Over 30% is imported from other states less greener for high demand seasons because their electricity is cheaper and much of that is coal based.

Total System Electric Generation

So anyone trying to levy taxes just for driving EV doesn't realize avenues of taxation already exists. We are still not at EV critical mass yet. Tesla just maxed their 100k EV sales which was used to qualify their buyers for the tax credit. I suspect sales may actually drop because of this.

Priority should not be to kill EV sales but to jump start more cleaner renewable energy sources. If CA imports electricity for peak seasons, that means CA will not be able to handle any critical mass of EV cars coming in because the grid can't handle it.