This is more than the average fossil car owner pays in gas taxes, and really bad policy during a world fuel shortage.

  • blitzen@lemmy.ca
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    14 hours ago

    I’m not against an annual fee for electric cars, but it should be going to the state and not the federal government. The problems have with this are:

    • goes to the feds instead of the states
    • too high, even when using the averages
    • averages are unfair to those who drive under the average
    • money likely not fully going to road upkeep, and most certainly not to funding public transportation

    Address those, and make it ten cents per mile driven for all I care.

    • NABDad@lemmy.world
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      10 hours ago

      Make it a fee based on vehicle mass and miles driven, have it apply to all vehicles and eliminate the gas tax.

      • blitzen@lemmy.ca
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        9 hours ago

        That would be a logical and fair way to do it. Which is why it’ll never happen.

      • Armok_the_bunny@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        Or don’t eliminate the gas tax, charge ICE vehicles for both, and then use all that money to fund the infrastructure for people to not literally need a car to live.

      • Badabinski@kbin.earth
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        8 hours ago

        Gas taxes pay for road construction in most/all states. No gas means no gas tax, which means the funding for infrastructure goes away.

        I’m not agreeing or disagreeing with the proposal, but that’s the idea anyways.

        • godsammitdam@lemmy.zip
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          8 hours ago

          Hmm

          Sounds like a great idea to tax the wealthy in those areas and use it to fund the public services like roads that they force their employees to use to drive to work.

          And maybe some public transit too so you don’t need to use a road. Or a car. Freedom of choice and all that.

          But yeah, they’re gonna try to tax them more and more because we certainly couldn’t gain energy independence, oh no no.

          Wonder when the solar tax comes in. Gotta tax the sun for giving the plebians free energy. Damn commie sun.

    • ramble81@lemmy.zip
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      12 hours ago

      And what about states that already charge? Texas charges $200/yr for EVs for the same reason. Will we be double taxed?

      • blitzen@lemmy.ca
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        2 hours ago

        Well, ICE cars already are. I don’t know about Texas but certainly here in California there’s federal taxes on gasoline and state taxes. The state taxes are always explicitly paying for road maintenance, and the federal taxes pay for “infrastructure” in a vague but probably reasonable manner.

        We’re all getting lost on the weeds on this one, but in general both the states and the feds are looking to make up the revenue needed to support road infrastructure lost when someone doesn’t buy gas.

        • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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          11 hours ago

          IDK what the fee is for ICE cars, but here (Denmark) all cars have a yearly fee, but EV is generally cheaper, because the fee is based on fuel economy, and the fuel economy of an EV is way better than ICE.

          • blitzen@lemmy.ca
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            11 hours ago

            In the US, every car has an annual registration fee (proportional to its value) paid to a state agency. In addition, there are federal and state taxes on each gallon of gas sold meant to be used for maintenance of the roads.

              • blitzen@lemmy.ca
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                10 hours ago

                Well, the idea of the $130 is it would be changed to EV drivers who are not currently paying the 18.5 cents per gallon federal gas tax. If it’s more or less than that depends on how many miles the ICE cars are driving, but on average it looks like the $130 would be higher than the about $90 most ICE drivers pay in federal gas tax.

                • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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                  10 hours ago

                  Thanks. 👍

                  would be changed to EV drivers who are not currently paying the 18.5 cents per gallon federal gas tax.

                  That’s bullshit IMO. That’s like punishing people for buying a car that uses renewable energy, over an ICE stinker that ruins the environment both locally and globally.

                  So they continue more than half a century of bad practices.
                  My god American law makers are idiots. 😡

                  • silence7@slrpnk.netOP
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                    5 hours ago

                    They’re not idiots; it’s just that the oil industry patronage machine controls a majority of Congress

                  • blitzen@lemmy.ca
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                    10 hours ago

                    My god American law makers are idiots.

                    I mean, no question there.

                    But the 18.5 cent tax on gas is meant to pay for the maintenance of roads. And because it’s on gasoline, it traditionally has scaled well with the amount of wear a vehicle puts on the roadway.

                    The $130 isn’t meant as “punishment” of EV drivers, only as a replacement of the funds they aren’t currently paying for road maintenance, which they use just as much as ICE vehicles. More-so, actually, as EVs are heavier than ICE on average.

                    There can and should be incentives by the government to increase EV adoption, but waiving the cost of road maintenance isn’t the answer.