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The Next Red-Blue State Divide: EV Taxes

• gnicholas 3y ago
  > “Penalizing EVs through additional taxes discourages their adoption and undermines efforts to improve air quality and combat climate change,” Oaksford said. Some states are exploring options along those lines. Known as road-usage fees, they are aimed at charging vehicle owners based on the miles they travel. States including Oregon, Utah and Georgia have pilot programs in place. Gooch, the Georgia state senator, said he is encouraged by his state’s road-usage trial. Yep, this has been a long time coming. I remember writing a tax policy paper about this when I was in law school almost 20 years ago. The trouble is figuring out how to report mileage accurately (and only include mileage on public roads), without compromising driver privacy.
  • delichon 3y ago
    The tax should be in proportion to the damage done to the road by the vehicle. So there should be a weight-of-the-vehicle factor in the tax calculation. I doubt that the function of weight to damage is linear, so the tax shouldn't be either. Type of tire and their surface area to the road may be worth including too, since a heavier six wheeler may do the same damage as a lighter four wheeler. I wonder if trucks would pay more than they do now if road costs are divided like this.
    • gnicholas 3y ago
      Yup, weight is important for sure, and it is quite nonlinear. That could mean that most consumer vehicles don't vary that greatly compared with 18-wheelers. Since those mostly use diesel, perhaps this could be roughly addressed by changing the tax on diesel fuel. But that would end up being terrible for the relatively small number of folks with diesel small cars (we once had a TDI Golf!).