SB 16 in California: $100 annual fee for ZEVs

[garygid]

So, how much of the CA General Fund is allocated or used to maintain the road system?

My impression is that all of these "road/fuel" fees and taxes go directly to the Genrral Fund,
where they become just part of the "pot of gold" to be used or squandered elsewhere.

What funds are paying for the expensive Hydrogen fueling stations in CA?

 

[abasile]

$100 is not very much compared to all of the other taxes and fees that we pay to the state, and we do want the roads to be maintained more consistently. On the other hand, we already pay a pretty penny for electricity in California, which is also taxed. Even those who have solar PV panels have to pay more than the price of gasoline when making use of public charging. So I'm not in favor of effectively penalizing those of us who are going out of our way to reduce our fossil fuel consumption. Unless fuel prices more closely reflect the true costs to public health and the environment, and/or many more vehicles are electric, no additional fees should be added. Besides, I'm pretty sure that EV drivers on average already pay more in state taxes than car owners in general, and this is a high tax state.

Also, for those of us who bought new, we are already paying more in VLF than those with "comparable" gasoline cars since VLF is based on the pre-incentive price of the car. In my case, that was over $34K back in 2011. While driving electric is something I find truly worthwhile, it isn't saving us money when everything is considered. (It might be different if I had waited a couple of years and purchased a used LEAF, however.)

 

[Sondy132001]

I love the ridiculousness of government. First they give away money ($2500) to get people to buy the cars, then when they realize the decrease in gas tax is hurting them, they add a tax to the registration fee to get some money back?! What a bunch of morons in government!

It's no different then our Water Companies telling us we have to conserve water by 25% or we will be fined, so we do, in 3 months they will up our water prices because they lost money because we conserved so well, it's a vicious cycle !

 

[tkdbrusco]

I love the ridiculousness of government. First they give away money ($2500) to get people to buy the cars, then when they realize the decrease in gas tax is hurting them, they add a tax to the registration fee to get some money back?! What a bunch of morons in government!

It's no different then our Water Companies telling us we have to conserve water by 25% or we will be fined, so we do, in 3 months they will up our water prices because they lost money because we conserved so well, it's a vicious cycle !

And there's one more certainty. Once those fees go up and the government gets used to the extra income, the fees will never decrease again.

"As a government grows, liberty decreases"

 

[mjblazin]

Most private fee systems have fixed and variable components. Governments figured, given large populations, the components can became single unit fee. Now as populations disaggregate into groups with different and visible behaviors, governments will have to adopt a similar structure. You will pay for existence of the distribution system and how much you use it.

Pushback may occur as people find how much the network itself costs, labor, management, pensions, spare parts, marketing, and the cheapest component is what goes across the network.

 

[GRA]

Meanwhile, in Oregon (via ABG):

OreGo, nation's first pay-per-mile test, targets EVs, plug-in hybrids

http://www.autoblog.com/2015/05/20/orego-first-pay-per-mile-test-evs-plug-in-hybrids/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The headline is inaccurate, as all types of cars are allowed in the test.