It kind of makes sense because gasoline taxes help fund road projects. Of course, if you live in a state like Pennsylvania, there's not much evidence of real improvements to the pothole infested roads.
That makes a ton of sense except one killer flaw - literally killer.
People will put off buying new tires to dangerous extents. Yes Some people already do that, but adding any meaningful fee/tax on new tires will most certainly lead to people drawing out replacements and causing severe accidents.
This is not enough. To undo the damage done by previous years sales of EVs, perhaps add a minimum 7500 (upto 100000 depending on price of car) federal sales tax on car manufacturers without dealerships and/or who sell more than 200K EVs per annum. This disincentive is absolutely necessary to undo the damage done by these eyesores on American roads.
> if state departments of transport don’t collect this federal EV tax, the federal government will “withhold an amount equal to 125 percent of the amount owed from the state’s highway apportionment.”
Ah, I see the game plan. Republicans pass this. Democrats then stiff red states in some particular way, maybe by taxing the ethanol content of gasoline.
When do Democrats stiff red states? This "hurt your opponents" style of governance comes exclusively from one political party in the US and it's not the Democratic Party. I would almost guarantee as soon as Democrats regain power they will try to shift to "politics as usual" and try to be bipartisan about things.
Just a reminder to folks everywhere. Never say to new taxes. After all, last time I checked, roads were supposed to be taken care of by gas tax ( which is extra hilarious, because Trump administration was trying to figure out how to waive it for now ).
It's fair to say that EV owners need to pay their share of road taxes. I don't think even most EV owners would necessarily disapprove of that in principle; I am one and I don't at all.
I do think that this bill is clearly structured to disincentivize EV purchases at a time when transitioning to EVs is an extremely good ideas for both the public and the climate.
There are a ton of other ways to go about this that would be less punitive: A one-time fee at purchase. A tax on public charging. A tax on charger purchase for home use, or on electricity at homes which have chargers installed.
I think the goal here is to get people not to buy EVs.
Also - and maybe this is a shortcoming of the reporting in the article, not the legislation - I have questions. How is this going to be collected? Is the IRS going to ask if you own an EV and then assess a tax? Are states going to do it? Who's going to pay for the process of figuring out who owns which EVs and how much to tax them? Is there a grandfather period for existing EVs or are we taxing all EVs going forward? Are we taxing them retroactively, too?
(By the way, the "Albert Gore" quoted in the article, despite their similar names and political interests, appears to be no relation to the former Vice President of the United States. That's a fun coincidence.)
14 comments
[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 42.0 ms ] threadPeople will put off buying new tires to dangerous extents. Yes Some people already do that, but adding any meaningful fee/tax on new tires will most certainly lead to people drawing out replacements and causing severe accidents.
It also weighs only 2650 pounds, nearly half that of many other passenger vehicles on the road today.
But my car is weird, not at all common in the United States, and no longer manufactured.
Ah, I see the game plan. Republicans pass this. Democrats then stiff red states in some particular way, maybe by taxing the ethanol content of gasoline.
I do think that this bill is clearly structured to disincentivize EV purchases at a time when transitioning to EVs is an extremely good ideas for both the public and the climate.
There are a ton of other ways to go about this that would be less punitive: A one-time fee at purchase. A tax on public charging. A tax on charger purchase for home use, or on electricity at homes which have chargers installed.
I think the goal here is to get people not to buy EVs.
Also - and maybe this is a shortcoming of the reporting in the article, not the legislation - I have questions. How is this going to be collected? Is the IRS going to ask if you own an EV and then assess a tax? Are states going to do it? Who's going to pay for the process of figuring out who owns which EVs and how much to tax them? Is there a grandfather period for existing EVs or are we taxing all EVs going forward? Are we taxing them retroactively, too?
(By the way, the "Albert Gore" quoted in the article, despite their similar names and political interests, appears to be no relation to the former Vice President of the United States. That's a fun coincidence.)