[RahulNagaraj]

USA's road and vehicle infrastructure projects are said to be partly funded by collecting gas tax from vehicle owners. However, with many people now shifting to EVs, state legislators are now working on ways to integrate electric vehicles and alternate fuel vehicles into their funding structure.

In line with this, the state of Texas could soon introduce an annual fee for EV owners as a replacement to the gas tax they are exempt from. According to reports, Texas could soon collect an annual fee of up to $ 400 from owners of electric vehicles.



As per the proposed bill, owners will be asked to pay an annual EV fee between $ 190 and $ 240. There will also be an additional charge of $ 150 for owners who drive their EVs more than 9,000 miles in a year and an annual surcharge of $ 10 to fund an advisory council for charging infrastructure.



Reports suggest that if the bill is passed, it would be implemented in the state from September 1, 2021. The fees would apply to over 300,000 vehicles, raising $ 37.8 million for the State Highway Fund (SHF) in FY2022. Other states are also looking to implement a similar annual fee for EV owners.



However, an EV advocacy group found that many states also have a registration fee for electric vehicles, ranging between $50 - $200. This, when added with the proposed annual fee for EVs, ends up being a higher amount than what conventional vehicle owners pay to support infrastructure development.



As an alternate, EV advocates suggested the states look at Road Usage Charges (RUC) instead - a way to charge vehicle owners for the actual miles they drive in a given year. A few states in the USA are said to be currently running pilot programmes and conducting research to check if collecting RUC works for them.

Source: caranddriver

Link to Team-BHP news

[batish]

Ah! This was expected, governments leave no stone unturned to milk whatever they can in taxes. From rebate to annual surcharge, good going. I wonder what they'll do in our country!!

[giri1.8]

Ironically was watching this video yesterday. Looks like one more tax has been added to the already HUGE and silly list of taxes. I mean "bagel cutting tax" in NYC! hope our politicians don't go on a trip to the US.

https://youtu.be/Xox199TucHE

[ZenMaster]

If this is the case in the USA. Imagine what our govt. Is going to cook up for us, when their Cash Cow of vehicle users convert to EVs.

Expect to be slapped a

*Road repair tax - for our perpetually bad roads
*Electricity infra surcharge - for the unreliable grid
*Lack-of Noise-pollution Tax - 'cos why not?
*Nature lover tax - People who takes the risk and initiative must be punished.
*Too much electric range Tax. - Considering how our govt. taxes everything, I'm pretty sure they will tax more on the basis of range/battery size which are directly correlated unlike Engine size & range

It also shows how all these govts. Pushing for electrification (good initiative- but unrealistic timelines/golas) don't really know how to tackle with the economic cost due to reduced Tax collection, lost jobs in the traditional car industry etc.

[TrackDay]

This was bound to come anyway since normal ICE cars and EV cars use the same road and infrastructure. Not that EV owners have to be exempt from taxes, but this can be a deterrent from adoption of electric technology in the state. Wonder how Elon Musk be feeling now after having setup a Giga factory in the state !

Hope this has nothing to do with the huge petroleum industry based in Texas.

[SnS_12]

Wonder what the CIA is planning to do to keep the US dollar relevant in the coming years with the the highest traded commodity in the world (Oil) gradually losing its sheen?

Americans killed Saddam Hussein (since he started selling oil in Euros) and Gaddafi ( wanted to create an independent currency for Africa) to keep it that way.

But what happens going forward?

[sunilch]

Finally the Fallacy that EVs are and will remain cheaper than conventional ICE cars is coming to terms with reality.

I have mentioned it multiple times earlier, the moment we see more EVs getting sold - everything related to the same will become expensive. Electricity, Taxes, etc. Govt will not and cannot leave this new source of income go free

[SKC-auto]

Obviously, what do we expect from Republicans, they don't believe in climate change, exited Paris climate agreement, they like to delay the transition to EVs.

Tesla went to Texas for cheaper labour and land, areas around Austin have good tech universities, I do not think Musk has ever expected anything more from the state. Texas does not even allow direct sales of Tesla cars.

[pkk077]

Originally Posted by SKC-auto

Obviously, what do we expect from Republicans,

Well I thought it was the Dems supporters who want everything for free which means the rich (read taxpayers) will foot the bill.

I cannot say it better than Peter Schiff:


Now why am I interested in what's happening in the USA?
Because I see the same thing coming to India. Sooner than later.

[AZT]

I don't see this ever happening here. Considering how much we hate foreign oil dependence, we will probably offer more subsidies to push EV.

Obviously, Lithium battery supply chain is dominated by China so dependency will just move from one country to another.

https://www.voanews.com/silicon-vall...y-supply-chain

[SKC-auto]

Originally Posted by SnS_12

Wonder what the CIA is planning to do to keep the US dollar relevant in the coming years with the the highest traded commodity in the world (Oil) gradually losing its sheen?

It's a far bigger problem to the Russians and ME as the oil loses value, I guess the CIA will be very happy to see Putin down to his knees.

Originally Posted by pkk077

Well I thought it was the Dems supporters who want everything for free which means the rich (read taxpayers) will foot the bill.

I am not against taxes on EVs, but not at this stage, subsidizing growth in new industries is not a new phenomenon.

Will Texas also bring in the carbon tax or do they think it's their birth right to pollute 'freely' at their will. Will the oil subsidies (wars in ME, plugging the drilled shale gas holes) paid by the tax payers will also be stopped.

Anyway I am not concerned about America's Medicare politics, it's them to decide. I am concerned about climate change that is where the Republicans climate plans look very stupid and serving the rich(billionaires) from oil and coal industries.

[StarrySky]

If I look at vehicle tax in Finland, a Skoda Kodiaq 1.5TSI for eg: costs about €40k pre-tax and attracts a car tax of just above €10k. On the other hand, a similar-sized Skoda Enyaq iV80 costs about €48k pre-tax and attracts a car tax of just above €1.2k. When it comes to annual tax, the Enyaq owner again pays less than the Kodiaq owner. So there's a considerable shortfall in tax per EV. Govt will obviously try to make it up somehow.

One main reason for lower car tax and annual tax in Finland is that both take into account vehicle CO2 emissions which are 0 for EV, but high for petrol cars. As more and more EVs (and PHEVs) with low CO2 values hit the road, I won't be surprised if some other parameter than CO2 emissions becomes the main component of car tax and annual tax.

[maddy42]

Oil money in Texas seems to have reached the senators. Why tax a new technology which is just being adopted. This must be the return gift for Tesla starting a factory in Texas.

Also looking at the bagel cutting tax video, seems like Indian govt has siblings in the NYC tax authority.

There was a reason Bernie sanders was a popular candidate. General public gets taxed for anything while rich corporations (Hey talking to you Amazon and Apple) get away using tax havens to not pay taxes.

Maddy

[Kannan]

If I remember correctly Victoria, Australia was the first state to announce this.

The following video just mocks that announcement.

https://youtu.be/fLflYkgnNBY

[s.jain1990]

I feel this was an expected move. The lower taxes and subsidies were to woo the buyers i initially and make them adopt to a new categories of vehicle.

Once the technology has been adopted, the government know that they can tax the people. It may have an impact in short term on sales of electric car but the sales curve would normalise in the long term.

Also, I am not sure how are ICEs taxed in USA so I couple be completely wrong about what I wrote.