Is anyone getting the notion that the Powers That Be do not actually want the peasants to actually be able to drive any vehicle? (via Not A Lot Of People Know That)
Tony Blair Institute calls for electric car road tax to avoid ‘gridlock Britain’
Tony Blair’s think tank has said Jeremy Hunt must “urgently” introduce a road tax which would make driving electric cars more expensive.
James Browne, senior policy adviser at the Tony Blair Institute (TBI), called on the Chancellor to introduce a new system of road pricing to stop the country becoming “gridlock Britain”.
Analysts have warned that the Treasury must step in to plug a £25bn black hole in the nation’s finances and stop traffic jams from surging as more motorists shift to electric vehicles (EVs).
This will happen because EV drivers do not pay fuel duty. As the Government phases out petrol cars as part of its push to get to net zero carbon emissions by 2050, this means Britain’s fleet of cars will become far cheaper to run.
As it becomes cheaper, people will drive more, while the Treasury’s tax take from fuel duty disappears.
Now, should there be some sort of road tax on EVs? Well, yes. Nothing wrong with that, the roads do need to be maintained, along with infrastructure. What Blair’s think tank wants to do, though, is have a very high tax which will make it almost too expensive for the middle and working class folks to drive.
Of course, this is a problem created by Government mandates. We’ve already seen issues where the gas tax revenue nose-dived in the Obama years when he increased the CAFE standards. Cars got better MPGs, so, less gas, plus, more hybrids being sold. So, they needed to raise the taxes. Now they just want you out of your car.
It’s not just in the UK: the US is dealing with the same problem.
The gasoline and diesel fuel taxes have been the traditional way of paying for road construction and repair, but the drivers of plug-in electrics are avoiding those taxes altogether. Kentucky is starting to impose a more expensive registration fee for EVs, but doing that to the point where it would actually replace the lost revenue would put a yearly fee, payable at one time, which roughly equaled what people are paying over the course of a year in much smaller amounts whenever they fuel up.
There are only a few ways to replace the lost revenue:
1 – Government tracking of all mileage, and charging for that;
2 – Government placing taxes on not just commercial EV chargers, but metering and charging at home EV chargers;
3 – Giving up the fuel taxes, and raising taxes in general.
A one time fee could be staggering for average people. The EV chargers are the point of delivery just like gas pumps. Seems that would be the answer. They will raise taxes in general any way.
Perhaps issuing an EV debit card which takes money directly out of your bank account plus tax at every refueling would be an easier way for the average guy to pay his tax. IOW the charging stations we’ll have a slot for the card regardless of home or on the road and in order to charge your car you gotta slide in your EV card at which point you’ll be charged for the fuel and the appropriate taxes.
80% of Tesla owners charge their cars at home at night when electric rates are low. They don’t have to worry about whatever price the Russians and Arabs force us to pay for gasoline they can look at the historical record of the price we pay for electricity (avg increase 2% p.a.) and have a pretty good idea if what future refueling costs will be
Raleigh NC has 766 charging stations 153 are free
Of the 766 charging stations 102 are new built within the last 90 days.
I wasn’t able to locate any gas stations offering free gas at this time
Fuel taxes were originally for the construction and maintenance of streets and highways and their associated infrastructure, however, our politicians have pirated these funds for ‘transit’ on the assumption that transit passengers will be grateful and re-elect these ne’er do wells. Well, transit has become a hyper-expensive boon-dogle and always needing more money. Roads are expensive enough to build and maintain. Put the fuel tax back where it belongs and see what is needed to maintain the roadways. Let the transit users pay for transit.
That rant done, EV’s should pay their share of user fees for roads, their wear and tear on roadways is no different than ICE vehicles. The vehicle weight is a key component in the wear equation, so possibly an annual surcharge based on weight for EV’s. When pols begin talking of new or adjusted taxes, hang on to your wallet, nothing good is going to come out of it.