Virginia Transportation Funding Deal

Have you read some of the vehement comments on that website? People are calling their legislators 'fascist' and so forth for proposing such a thing. I am truly ashamed to be living in a country where there are so many stupid and ignorant people. I will bet that 90% of those opposing this per-mile tax on privacy grounds have already signed over the rights to their location via GPS to Google, Appple, Verizon, AT&T, or others.

 

I didn't necessarily mean discriminatory against Prius owners, but against all high-mileage drivers. It seems to be the governor's way of striking out against anyone who doesn't share his narrow view of the world.

 

I think VA is responding to the lost tax revenue it sees at the gas pump. Maybe they think this evens the field, hybrids use less gas, less tax revenue...why not find a tax to give them and call it even. i wonder if they started with the credit years ago to go green and then realized, "oh crap".

Another reason I'm glad that I moved out of it!

 

Say no to taxes.

 

Boy, there's a lot of huffing in this thread. We've only seen the barest hint of the changes that are in store for how transportation is taxed. If it were up to me, I'd raise those proposed taxes enough to fund decent public transportation. Any old train is more efficient per ton/mile than a Prius.

 

True. But I'd like to see you pull up to the drive-in window.

 

Changing the fuel tax from a flat rate to a percentage is a good idea but charging more to register a alternative energy vehicle is misguided and could harms the regional economy. The $100/year extra for registration of an alternative energy vehicles is excessive and is about 4x more than it should be. How a vehicle is power has no bearing on its impact on road maintenance. It is the vehicle's curb/gross weight of the vehicle, whether a vehicle is commercially driven, and the yearly miles driven that affect road maintenance.

$100/year would be like paying $1 for every 120 miles driven if one drove 12000 miles/year - that would be about 42 cents per gallon when by a 50 mpg car and possibly more for a vehicle that gets less than 50 mpg. Currently with gasoline at $3.75/gallon that would make it $4.17/gallon a 11% increase in fuel cost compared to a conventional gas vehicle. The cost of running a 50 mpg hybrid is cost effectively reduced to a 45 mpg conventional gas vehicle. As the price of gas goes up - the impact of this $100/year extra registration fee has less of an impact on the cost to drive. For example, if the cost of gasoline goes up to $5.00/gallon then a 42 cent per gallon tax would drive the cost up to $5.42/gallon which translates to a 8.5% fuel cost increase - effectively making the fuel cost of a 50 mpg hybrid look like a 46 mpg conventional gas vehicle. If one double the mileage per year to 24000 miles/year - then the $100/year tax would be halved at $1 per 240 miles driven and the extra cost would look less to people who had very long commutes. The tax would be a disincentive for people who had short commutes to buy a hybrid - hybrids would still maintain a fuel cost advantage for people with long commutes (of course VA could raise the hybrid tax even higher to a point where it becomes uneconomical to own one).

Virginia is replacing its 17.5 cents per gallon of gas tax (4.67% for gasoline ) to 3.5% levy per gallon of gas tax. This will theoretically lower the price of a gallon of gas by 1.67% if the savings were passed on to the consumer. This means a gallon of gas that cost $3.75 under the old taxing system would cost $3.69 instead. The extra $100 tax on a 50mpg hybrid registered in Virginia and driven about 12000 mile/year would effectively cost 42 cents more per gallon -- so the cost would be effectivel $4.11 per gallon of gas.

Currently, it cost about $4.20/gallon for diesel (in Northern Virginia) so the current Virginia tax of 17.5 cents per gallon of diesel fuel equals to about 4.17% tax. Virginia's new tax rate for diesel would increase to 6% so it would add about 7 cents more per gallon of diesel used ... hence a gallon of diesel that cost $4.20 under the old tax rate which would increase $4.27

Given that a conventional vehicle will likely average about 28 mpg over 12000 mile - it will use about 188 gallons of gas more than a 50 mpg hybrid per year(spending about $700 more per year on fuel than a 50 mpg hybrid). So if gas was costing $3.69 per gallon (average all year long) then a conventional gas 28 mpg vehicle would be paying $24.28 more per year in gasoline tax than a 50 mpg hybrid - but saving $75.72 per year on registration taxes.

 

Another point that seems to be forgotten is the value of your car. As a trade in dealers will not want the car, people that usually buy used cars aren't the ones that are willing to pay an additional $100/yr for the vehicle.
Many people rely on their trade in having good value to purchase a new vehicle. These vehicles on the used market will have little value unless you trade it out of state.

I have a Honda Civic Hybrid. The VW diesel Passat and Jetta return a better MPG than my car. Why isn't the VW diesel taxed?

Isn't ethanol an alternative fuel? Dah.....

Anyone that has traveled overseas and used vehicles there, especially the diesels, know that those vehicles obtain twice the mileage of it's American sold counterparts. THat's the big reason there isn't more complaining about their high gasoline. Our government is keeping the mileage of vehicles down to keep the revenue up. This talk of more efficient vehicles is a joke, they don't want it, they can't afford it.

Only in the USA will you find a tax on "gas guzzlers" and another tax on the opposite. This is bad government out of control (money).

I believe this should be contested in court.

 

As a rule of thumb, a car that is X% heavier with have about X%/2 worse fuel economy. What is the relation between increased car weight and road wear ? If the road wear increase proportion is greater than the fuel consumption increase then VA is just engaging in consumer discrimination.

 

Just let a Sherman tank drive at 30 mph on any road - and I will show you a road that is in need of repair.

 

I believe the standard exponent used is 4, based on axle weight. Double the axle weight, multiply the damage by 16.

Corollary: trucks matter way more than cars. Cars matter for road volume more than road damage.

 

I wrote both my VA delegate and senator, and never heard a thing back. My delegate is none other than speaker Howell, who also lives in my neighborhood. Neither Howell nor my senator has the courage to explain why they think it's a good idea to impose an annual fine on the owners of Hybrids. There are so many idiotic facets to this legislation that it defies explanation. The notion to replace the gasoline tax with a sales tax would only make sense if oil price increases historically tracked along with the rate of inflation. That has never happened and we all know how wildly volatile oil markets can be. What will the state do if oil prices fall, thereby reducing sales tax revenue? The oil companies get their wish of sticking it to the owners of fuel efficient cars. Our governor is living proof that siblings shouldn't marry.

 

The Hybrid folks are an easy target. I live in Prince Edward County where farming is all but dead. You'd never know it though from all the home made "FARM USE" tags on vehicles. New big SUV's parked in front of Wal-Mart you know have nothing to do with farming, it's tax evasion. That is to difficult of a group to crack down on and get the revenue already in the laws. The "antique" plates fall right in line with this. Another thing I am certain, no matter how much money the state robs for the roads, the dirt road I live on or any other road in this county will never see a penny of it. I liked the toll idea, those that use the roads pay for the roads, especially the "out of staters".

 

I feel a better way to look at this is how much fuel do you actually have to buy at the present tax rate on fuel to equal $100 VA taxes. Now figure the adjusted mileage of the vehicle. Absurd.