Hybrid tax.

Just left revenue office about two hours ago. There is an electric vehicle or hybrid tax of $50 tacked onto tags fee here in Arkansas every year. Maybe part of reason they are pushing these vehicles so much. Don't know about other states.

 

That fee is to offset the loss of money from the state's gas tax. You fill up less than a gas only vehicle but use the same roads and bridges. The state gas taxes pay for that infrastructure. So they charge the fee to make up for it

 

Alabama’s registration tax only applies to EVs and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV), which makes sense to me since they are both using another fuel source other than gasoline. The tax should not apply, in my opinion, to traditional hybrids (HEVs) like Highlander Hybrid or a hybrid technology like the iForce MAX that uses only gasoline as an outside fuel. I get that the fee is designed to offset the projected loss of gasoline taxes that support road maintenance and construction, but it’s not as if you are circumventing the purchase or consumption of gasoline like a genuine EV or PHEV driven minimally can do. It’s more like the government is taxing the electricity that your own vehicle is producing via regeneration and in direct charging of the HV battery. Or more simply punishing you for buying a truck that is slightly more fuel efficient. Seems like a genuinely unfair tax in your case, you should contact your state representative.

 

Here is site with breakdown.

https://afdc.energy.gov/laws/12182

 

Sooner or later they will have to move to a mileage based tax to cover shortfalls in gas tax revenue. It’s only a matter of time.

 

The government will get their money one way or other that’s for sure.

 

fify

 

I need to go back to my ESL classes! LOL

 

Move to Wyoming. EVs have a $200 annual fee. Gotta try and claw back some of that gas tax money. Heaven forbid a citizen be allowed to save anything and move up in the economic world.

 

$50 here for an EV/Hybrid. Peanut change when compared to the tax credit one gets when buying an EV or Hybrid in CO. $1500 for a hybrid. $2500 for an EV. There should be no tax break imho.

 

No tax break in WY for them. The federal ones on Teslas were nuts, but those all died off when their sales went up.

 

At this point there should be a tax break for buying a vegetable or a book or something

 

Good point

 

I’ve been wondering how states will get EV (and to a lesser extent hybrid) owners to pay for road maintenance.

It’s worth nothing that EV’s heavier than comparable ICE vehicles too so they’re putting more stress on roads and bridges without contributing to their upkeep.

I know it sucks to get a surprise bill just when you finally feel like you got out from under the thumb of the oil/gas industry, but we all use the same roads and they aren’t gonna fix themselves.

It made sense at the time to tie road maintenance to the gas tax, but going forward it’s gonna need to change.

If it’s gonna be included in the registration process, lots of fleet vehicles are registered out of state but drive locally, I wonder how that’s gonna work. The gas tax worked nicely because it taxed the vehicles where they’re actually driven, and the heavier vehicles used more gas so they paid more taxes. Now it’s getting all funky.