You knew this was coming, right? Back when Obama was president, he and the other Warmists were pushing hybrids hard, but, because they used a lot less gas, there was a big loss of gas tax revenue, so, they were pimping all sorts of fees and schemes to nail those hybrid owners who were saving money at the pump. Now we get the same thing for EVs
Electric vehicle owners have to contribute their fair share for roads
Minnesota has seen yearly increases in electric vehicle sales, with the main selling point of these cars being that owners don’t have to pay for gas, they don’t have to pay added fees for charging and gas taxes will never affect them. That has led to a decrease in transportation revenue as the use of gas vehicles drops. We know that electric vehicles are the trend of the future, and they are already benefitting from our roads and bridges — electric vehicle owners simply need to pay their fair share for doing so.
Last year I introduced a bill that taxes charging stations, treating these charges as “electric fuel.” This would allow us to collect fuel tax dollars from electric vehicles just like we do our gas counterparts. Gas taxes are currently collected at the refinery, not the pumps. It only makes sense that we take this model and apply it to electric vehicle charging as well. This is an issue that will have long-term effects on our infrastructure funding as we head into the future. We need to start thinking about this now, before we see a rapid increase of charging station installations throughout the state.
That being said, we don’t want to double-tax folks either. With this plan, we will also repeal the $75 surcharge on electric vehicles. We also plan to exempt transit providers, medical assistance providers and ambulances.
Save money by not using gas! Give government money after they forced you into an EV that you can’t afford! This is by state senator Jeff Howe, R-Rockwell.
In fairness, I have no idea what he thinks on the subject of anthropogenic climate change. He doesn’t seem to have a webpage other than Facebook, which tells us nothing. He has voted against many climate scam bills in the Minnesota legislature. Maybe he’s trying to make a subtle point about the EV push? That said, sooner or later the Warmists themselves will start pushing the same thing, as the money for roads and bridges and such dries up as gasoline tax dries up, and someone has to piny up, right? This is inevitable, especially since all that tax money leads to lots of pork projects, graft, hooking frinds and family up, right?
I have no problem about mileage based user fees especially if gross vehicle weight is also figured. American roads are in horrible condition which increases maintenence costs for all. As more and more “rich” people are forced to choose EVs against there will, we will need to find additional sources of funding. However only a small percent of current EV owners must choose to use any type of charging outside of their own homes so perhaps a mileage tax on all cars might be fairer
How, exactly, will a mileage tax be determined? Will the government monitor your odometer? Will the government insist on a GPS tracking system for all vehicles?
I’m sure that clever hackers will find a way to disconnect such devices to avoid the tax, and I would certainly support any way to avoid government tracking.
American infrastructure is in much of it’s current condition due to deferred maintenance. Most of the roadways in poor repair are operated by local operators [cities and counties]. Not to mention that politicians are loathe to provide maintenance funding. A new fluff project goes farther towards reelection than rebuilding a sewer or repaving a secondary street. The “typical” design life of a significant infrastructure project [with periodic maintenance] is generally about 50 years, excluding paving surfaces which vary due to many reasons. Asphalt paving can need service in as little as 6 or 7 years or can last 20 years or more, it depends.
Most states take gross weight into account on vehicle registration. Single load axle vehicles under around 20,000 lbs. cause a relatively insignificant amount of excess deterioration of roadways. The worst offenders are [generally] dump trucks, concrete transit trucks, and urban transit busses. The first 2 pay dearly for their road use fees, the other, you pay for.
John-if EV vehicles are so good then why would anyone be forced to buy one?