NC bill to tax EVs $100/year

[davidcary]

Another issue - I suppose it isn't fair for high mpg cars also - ie hybrid tax in Virginia. So it really isn't fair to compare to a 50 mpg car as a fair share issue.

The fact is the right answer would be weight and miles focused. We know that these cost a lot to administer.

So when you say 37 cents, you really should be looking at fleet average and average miles driven. That would be closer to $200 in state gas taxes for the average NC resident. So looking at it that way we are actually getting a 50% discount on our fair share of road maintenance. The same discount a Prius gets.

Poorly timed - sure. But unfair - no way. Is the Leaf a particularly light car - no.

I love all the outsiders (ie Northern) view. Fact is we have some of the best solar incentives in the country. We charge the third highest gas taxes in the country. Sure we use too much coal. Sure we drive too many SUVs. But lets not make it seem like another red state acting to protect big oil. My local Leaf dealer is the busiest in the Southeast. Sure not saying much but we are far more concerned about the environment around here than the majority of the NE.

 

[UkrainianKozak]

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Taxes at this point will do little to help the budget but may harm EV adoption.

I'm on the same feeling, I don't mind paying for road maintenance, but I think this way and at this time is doing more bad that good.
I already had cases when people were telling me that they don't want to get in EV because they have to pay higher registration fee every year. I find that it is much harder to convince people that they will actually save money on gas. In most cases people feel skeptical (or ignorant) about gas savings, while registration fee every year feels to them (and it actually is) a sure thing. Before they were thinking like I'll buy Leaf and maybe save on gas, now they think I'll buy leaf, maybe save some on gas, but definitely loose $100 every year. I know, this $100/year is negligible comparing with real gas savings, but this tax is just sends the wrong message.
And why in the hell you would do incentive to by an EV (in WA state you basically saving over ~$2K on state sales taxes) but get this $100 away every year?

On other hand I feel like this law is really unfair, yes, it does not matter if Leaf is heavy or not, but why pure EVs are singled out??? It's much better option for environment with zero emissions and less production emission compared with plugin hybrids.
I feel unfair because if I drive 30 miles per day on electricity in Leaf and my neighbor drives 30 miles per day on electricity in his Chevy volt, why in the hell I need to pay $100 on road maintenance and he don't need to pay???
On the other hand if my wife drives old Ford Focus and another neighbor drives prius, same distance, why do we need to pay more for road maintenance while driving lighter car same distance?

What I'm getting at is that to me any indirect taxation is unfair. WA has mandatory car emission inspections, why can't they record the number of miles driven and tax based on that? They can even include weight of the car into formula for tax. That would be very easy to implement, will be fair to everybody and you won't hear from others that this ridiculous $100/year tax will eat my gas vs electricity savings as you have to pay it equally irregardless of what you drive.

If our lawmakers try to fix the law, why can't they fix it for good instead of creating another set of rules and pile them on top of each other???

P.S. I'm 100% supporting the need to pay for road maintenance, but I'm highly opposing this kinds of discriminatory bills... If you want to fix it, make it fair, or don't make it at all.