Road tax question...

[Mass]

So everyone that drives a car or truck pays taxes which supposedly help maintain roads via the gas pump.

What's going to happen in the years to come when a disproportionate number of cars are driving around on electricity?

Is annual state registration going to sky rocket?

Is every major highway going to become a toll road?

[Cecil14]

Separate electrical service to the home dedicated to vehicle chargers. It's already a thing in a lot of places, companies are giving subsidies and rebates if you have a separate service run for the charger. This allows them to meter that usage separately and impose pump-like taxes on it.


aa

[fsj454]

Excise tax bill

I get theses excise tax bills every year . Just got the one for my 1990 Grand Wagoneer . Valuation 2800.00 tax bill 70.00 1982 Cherokee valuation 600.00 excise tax bill 15.00. Wifes car 2017 ford escape valuation 12350.00 excise tax bill 308.75 . And I still pay tolls

[miracleed]

I feel your pain. I've always thought that hating taxes in Massachusetts was like hating the rain in Seattle.

[joe]

What's going to happen in the years to come when a disproportionate number of cars are driving around on electricity?

Is annual state registration going to sky rocket?

Is every major highway going to become a toll road?

Probably. Don't know if it's a WA state or King county (Seattle) thing but they're already talking a $100 yearly tab increase on elec/hybrid cars.

[Mass]

Wow, I didn't know there was such thing as excise tax. I just googled it. So it's like an annual property tax but for your vehicles? Sounds like straight up robbery if you drive a nice car.

Here in Texas it's sales tax at purchase and like $50 plus $14 safety inspection for registration every year. That's it.
Well not including the annual bs ticket from goofy hat wearing DPS officers.

So you get a subsidy and rebate to start paying taxes.
Seems like with a separate metered service people would just opt for a slow charge overnight on 120v. ...or run an extension cord from the dryer to avoid taxation. Amiright?

[Crankyolman]

A lot of places are talking about taxes based on miles driven, which means an odometer check every year and taxes based on that. Of course they will never lower gas taxes in spite of charging by the mile and Washington's governor just tried (and failed) to pass an additional 15 cent per gallon "carbon tax" to hit the poor and others who can't or won't switch to those environmental disasters called electric vehicles


Sorry, I really don't like to get on political rants.

[Tripwire]

well it gets worse ....

how about besides the electric vehicles driving for free - our governor spending millions on bike lanes ( removing vehicle lanes or parking spaces) and the cyclists pay nothing at all - the bikes should require licence plates/stickers and pay for the roads they ride on

yea.... i know the counter argument of charging pedestrians to walk, but they are not taking away lanes or parking spaces

steve

[Mass]

Don't get me started.
I love bikes. But they're all hypocrites.
They get mad when you pass them for going 15 in a 40 zone
But they never stop at stop signs and run red lights like it's legit.

I almost took out a group riding near Dallas. The entire hoard of 20+ cyclists ran a stop sign turning onto Lawson Rd from berry rd in Mesquite which is a 45mph little 2 lane road. If I had a load of dirt in my truck I would of made national news. Idiots.

I really hope they don't jack up our gas prices.

If they start charging by the mile honest people will be the only ones paying.
I'd have to get into the odometer "repair" business.

[rang-a-stang]

Haha! If they taxed us based on our odometers instead of gas usage, that would be great! I would disconnect mine for 364 days of the year. it would look like I only drive my Jeep to the Odometer verification station once a year!

[Crankyolman]

Haha! If they taxed us based on our odometers instead of gas usage, that would be great! I would disconnect mine for 364 days of the year. it would look like I only drive my Jeep to the Odometer verification station once a year!

That's the good thing about old school cable driven speedos When I was young I had a Trans Am with the odometer disconnected, I found the tach was good enough to tell me if I was going 55...or 155 but now we have phones capable of telling us that, but I only put about 2,500 miles a year on each of my vehicles so it's not a big deal.


There is also more tattle tale technology out there than most people know, there are billboards set up to record faces and license plate numbers and store them in data banks and all kinds of other things to catch you and keep track of you.


One other thing, here in Wa is if your vehicle is over 35 years of age you can get "collector" plates that never have to be renewed, we did that with my wife's Mercedes, one easy payment and Sound transit can kiss my A$$

[JeepsAndGuns]

I doubt the number of electric cars/trucks are going to surpass gas/diesel anytime soon. Yes there will slowly become a few more, mainly in the bigger cities, but across the country gas will still way outnumber the electric.
At first, people will probably get tax credits and whatnot for driving "green" electric vehicles. But eventually once there becomes enough of them on the road for the tax man to start noticing it in his pocket book, they will start charging tax. My guess is like someone mentioned above. A completely separate electric service for charging your car, and if you get caught charging from your standard house electric, big fines. Kinda like what happens when people get in trouble for making bio diesel and not paying taxes to use it on the road.
I do not see electric becoming popular anywhere but for people who drive short trips every day and can recharge each night. Until they can make it to where you can charge one in a few min, or swap out the battery pack at electric "stations", gas will still rule, because there will always be people who need to be able to refuel in a few min and then get back on the road.

[lkmarsh]

I have yet to hear an enviro-Nazi explain just where this extra electricity will come from. Electric vehicles sound like a great idea, till you start counting power plants here in the Peoples Republic. No nukes, no new oil, gas, coal, nor hydro, but all the solar and wind you can stand. How long till the greenies start screaming for electric airliners?

[SJTD]

Shoot, don't you know nuthin? You just plug em in.

[Crankyolman]

I doubt the number of electric cars/trucks are going to surpass gas/diesel anytime soon. Yes there will slowly become a few more, mainly in the bigger cities, but across the country gas will still way outnumber the electric.
At first, people will probably get tax credits and whatnot for driving "green" electric vehicles. But eventually once there becomes enough of them on the road for the tax man to start noticing it in his pocket book, they will start charging tax. My guess is like someone mentioned above. A completely separate electric service for charging your car, and if you get caught charging from your standard house electric, big fines. Kinda like what happens when people get in trouble for making bio diesel and not paying taxes to use it on the road.
I do not see electric becoming popular anywhere but for people who drive short trips every day and can recharge each night. Until they can make it to where you can charge one in a few min, or swap out the battery pack at electric "stations", gas will still rule, because there will always be people who need to be able to refuel in a few min and then get back on the road.

That may be the case in some parts of the country but for lots of other places the squeeze is already being felt. The average daily commute is 25 minutes so for a lot of people electric or hybrid make sense. There are around 1.3 million plug in electric cars in the US and something like 3+ million hybrids. That's a lot of cars getting 50+ MPH don't pay their fair share of road use and you can bet the politicians are noticing. Here in Wa we have the second highest gas taxes in the country and there are a crap load of electrics and hybrids that not only get tax benefits but also pay little to nothing in road taxes and the state is feeling it and they are not alone.