Washington State Taxes Electric Car Drivers For loss of Gaso

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Washington State Taxes Electric Car Drivers For loss of Gasoline Tax

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"It had to happen, some states are caught between encouraging people to buy more, hence the incentives on cleaner energy cars such as rebates on electric vehicles. The problem with electric vehicles, and certainly not for those who own one is that they don’t pay gasoline taxes, removing important funds from repairing the dilapidated state of our roads. Washing ton State is trying to balance incentives and making it fair for everyone.

Washington State Taxes EV Drivers. Washington state electric vehicles, EV owners will soon have to pay a $100 tax other motorists don’t have to pay, at least directly. The reason is that the tax works to partially make up for the loss of fuel taxes. Since EV owners don’t pay for fuel at the pump, this lack of tax that goes into up-keeping our roads and more needs to be found somewhere else. The yearly $100 tax should be payable when the owner registers the vehicle at the DMV and will only effect vehicles powered by electricity that can go above 35 mph. See David Herron's article for more info: Washington State electric car tax going into effect in 2013.

$100 Is a Bargain! No matter how you look at it, $100 is still a bargain compared to how much money you spend on gasoline, it’s continual trend up in price and yearly budget. Still, this is another $100 to factor into the equation whether or not to buy an EV for Washingtonians. And we can bet other states will closely watch how this tax is received. Will it hinder sales of EVs? Not necessarily. After all, EV owners are well aware they escape the taxes that maintain the road they drive on. At some point, EVs will also have to pay their fare shares to use roads.

According to HybridCars, Washingtonians pay around 55.9 cents per gallon in taxes, which would make 180 gallons or so at current prices equivalent. While most people might not know off the top of their heads how many gallons of gasoline they use in a year, it is a very safe bet to acknowledge it is well over 180 gallons.

For states caught in the economic turmoil of our nation, unable to balance a budget, this might seem like a good solution. However, the relatively small amount of EV owners in states might not make this a big deal. The bigger deal is that once such a law is passed , it opens the way to raise fees year after year. While there are no easy solutions to the dilemma, some suggest slapping a tax to the electric bill that are related to charging an EV. A hard case to prove, or disprove. Nonetheless, electric vehicle owners will have to pay at some point in order to use roads, either via taxes or other means."

Em: http://www.torquenews.com/1079/washingt ... soline-tax