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Who will pay to maintain the roadways? I live in PA and I pay roughly .60 cents per gallon in state and fed taxes that go to maintaining the roads. So at least $15 of every fill up goes out to tax. If electric car owners don't buy gas they don't pay to maintain the roads so who will? So the happy "old school but proven school" combustion engine owners will pick up the tab for the freeloaders?lol
Many states are already considering the option of adding or changing road taxes to miles put on a car from year to year based on odometer readings at an inspection. Issue with this is how does one go about paying or even verifying time spent driving in other states? Another option will likely be chargers for electric cars having to be gov't approved with meters to track consumption. Definitely presents some new challenges.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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That will not be a problem. In our state there is an additional tax on electric vehicles already, $100 collected at the time of annual registration renewal. That's the equivalent of the tax on about 227 gallons of gas, or 7,000 miles driven on a car getting 30 mpg. As more electrics are in use, they will just raise that.
No worries. I'm sure our government (both the states and federal) will come up with a way to tax the hell out of them to get their money! They are well experienced in adding extra taxes so an electric car will not be much of a challenge!
Who will pay to maintain the roadways? I live in PA and I pay roughly .60 cents per gallon in state and fed taxes that go to maintaining the roads. So at least $15 of every fill up goes out to tax. If electric car owners don't buy gas they don't pay to maintain the roads so who will? So the happy "old school but proven school" combustion engine owners will pick up the tab for the freeloaders?lol
Oh they will figure out a way to get the money for roads. They will simply raise registration rates or simply have a mandatory safety inspection where they keep track of your mileage.
I wont drive an electric, but I'm cool with them paying less to maintain roads. Mostly because I doubt I will see an electric weighed down hauling, towing, or using snow chains.
A per mile tax based on the expected average weight of the vehicle is ideal, do it for every vehicle. GPS can be used but should not be required. Many states have yearly inspections and it can be recorded there, if not they would have to implement some kind of annual record. The tax should probably be paid quarterly using estimates. Any car sold/scrapped would have to have the tax paid before it could be sold. Hold up future registrations for delinquents.
This gets a little difficult for commercial trucks because their weight varies substantially. I wouldn't mind seeing increased taxes on trucks since they cause the most damage. You'll pay more for the products you use however that tax cost is spread over everyone whether they drive or not. More long haul freight will move to rail where it belongs and when combined with tax on trucks being spread across the population the motoring public long term will pay less for roads.
I think a usage-based toll transponder is a more fair way to pay for roads than a mileage-based fee. If you frequently drive on out-of-state roads, you should be paying. If you drive on highly congested roads that are costly to maintain, you should be paying more per mile than someone driving on rural interstate highways. My view is biased from living in New England where the states are bunched close together and where there is a huge difference between an urban commuter and the load they put on highways and an off hours mostly rural driver. Those drivers could live next to each other. One commutes across the state line into urban traffic every day. The other does long rural drives racking up the same mileage.
I have an EZPass transponder. I'm already used to usage-based. I think the usage based fees should also change based on congestion or time-of-day. If my usage is part of the problem causing the traffic jam, I should be paying for it. It should be much cheaper to do the same drive off-hours.
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