PA to stary an annual “road user fee” to EV owners

[PaulA]

IMHO we should have to pay something for using the roads, but a flat annual fee is not the way. These cars could easily report annual mileage driven to the state and you pay a per mile fee for the annual vehicle fee.

There are arguments for and against any fee or tax that I can imagine. Kentucky has begun to assess an annual flat fee of $120 per EV. I don’t mind paying my fair share for road construction and maintenance, and Kentucky’s flat fee seems in line with what I’d pay in state fuel tax to operate an ICE vehicle the number of miles I drive our Mach E.

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[JerryR]

A proper solution would be mileage based. At least in PA, cars must pass a year safety inspection, and part of that involves the inspection shop reporting the mileage of the car. That can be used to fairly tax EV's.

For that matter, PA could use that same mileage calculation to tax _all_ vehicles (gas, electric, etc) and drop the insane $0.50+ gas tax.

The new PA law has another oddity in that PHEV's are only charged 25% of the new tax/fee. This doesn't make much sense to me as a PHEV used just for a daily commute can actually go months without using a single drop of gasoline. So why would they only have to pay 1/4 as much as a full EV?

This bill just seemed like it was crammed through either for a special interest group, or without proper and educated thought. While I agree with the sentiments that EV drivers should pay their fair share, I disagree with the execution.

Here in Virginia, the EV road tax is mileage based. You can pay a flat fee of about $230/year or, like myself, you can plug-in a DMV gizmo into your OBD port (supplied by the state) which tracks your mileage. If you travel less then 11,600 per year you pay less. I travel between 8k-9k. If you drive more than that, you don't pay more than the flat fee.

 

[garyd9]

That’s called “chipping” and it’s only done on very small, infrequently used rural roads.

That might be how it’s supposed to be used, but at least in the Pittsburgh area it’s done for all but highways.

 

[Rt1AWD]

Electricity for EV should be the same, a use tax.

Why

 

[zvez]

If you want to add to the math:


Make sure you subtract all the extra taxes you pay on electricity because of your increased usage by charging at home.

Our “fuel,” is already taxed. If they need more tax money for roads because of us buying BEVs, tell the government to repurpose some of the tax money that we already pay on our electric bill.

well except the taxes you pay for your electricity aren't earmarked for road maintenance and upkeep, gas taxes and ev user fees are.

 

[zvez]

The problem is these EV fees can be based on an excessive amount of mileage in some cases. It should be based on driving an average amount of miles with a 30 MPH vehicle.

For Pennsylvania, 11,445 mi / 30 MPG * $0.576 = $220 in taxes, so $200 is reasonable.

In Wisconsin, 15,442 / 30 MPG * $0.309 = $159. Our fee is $175, so a little high. AND we have to pay a kWh tax on public charging now too!

Either way, this type of fixed EV tax penalizes people that don't drive their EV much because they pay way more than their share.

this is exactly why some states are introducing a tiered system where you can pay a higher flat ev fee or one based on mileage. I think tracking the mileage of individual users would be problematic. I'm ok with the $210 EV fee in GA, which is equivalent to tax on around 800 gallons. Tho I'm retired and won't use a fraction of that.

 

[ack154]

Here in Virginia, the EV road tax is mileage based. You can pay a flat fee of about $230/year or, like myself, you can plug-in a DMV gizmo into your OBD port (supplied by the state) which tracks your mileage. If you travel less then 11,600 per year you pay less. I travel between 8k-9k. If you drive more than that, you don't pay more than the flat fee.

It's cool that they offer the option of use-based... but plugging something in that reports to the DMV? I'd need to see a LOT of detail on that before I'd ever plug it in.

 

[Rt1AWD]

It's cool that they offer the option of use-based... but plugging something in that reports to the DMV? I'd need to see a LOT of detail on that before I'd ever plug it in.

No. This way is not cool at all.

 

[ChehRob]

General problem is that advanced economies need several percent more of GDP than taxpayers are willing to pay. Road gas taxes do not cover the needs for some new roads and maintenance of existing roads, bridges, and tunnels. Likewise, the Greatest Generation paid for most of our other infrastructure that now needs major updating. Water. Sewer, Electric Grid et al.

 

[Schmedlack]

Maryland is nothing without a new way to tax. I don’t have an issue with paying my share but the problem with MD is I’m not quite sure what the $.47/gallon is going towards, it’s not to fix the roads. I drive among other ICE veh a Miata and the potholes on I97 swallow my car and I bottom out on the speed bumps on the on ramps. I don’t get any break for driving a 2200lb car that gets 40mpg. So like the tax this fee will benefit no one.

Unfortunately, The Maryland Transportation Trust Fund is one big "pot of money". It's not divided up into seperate allocation funds. So, gas tax paid by rural county drivers, will be spent building the new Red Line train for Baltimore City. As an EV owner, I was granted Maryland HOV lane privileges - In three years, I have used it once.

 

[Schmedlack]

IMHO we should have to pay something for using the roads, but a flat annual fee is not the way. These cars could easily report annual mileage driven to the state and you pay a per mile fee for the annual vehicle fee.

I

That might be how it’s supposed to be used, but at least in the Pittsburgh area it’s done for all but highways.

I really love Pittsburgh as a city, but some roads are so bad that they can disable a small military tank. Hey, years ago some Steel City garages offered lifetime wheel for a fixed fee. Does this still exist?

 

[Art]

The Keystone State is no longer incentivizing EV ownership. The rebate is no more. Now we have to pay a road user fee since we don’t pay a gas tax. It’s a set fee whether you drive one mile or a million miles. We already pay tax on the electricity which is the fuel we use. Twenty nine states charge this fee. PA has the highest fee - and it’s scheduled to increase already. I guess they haven’t heard of climate change.

As EVs gather sales momentum, it is only fair to pay a tax for road repairs.
I predicted on Quora that it would come as more EVs were sold. Now it's here and the free lunch is over.

 

[garyd9]

One thing I'm curious about with this new PA tax is how it's going to work with 2 year registration renewals when the fee/tax is based on the consumer price index after 2026.

If the current year is 2026 and I want to renew for 2 years, I'd pay $250 for the current year, and how much for the following year?

 

[Mach1E]

State electricity taxes pay for state monitoring of environmental compliance, regulation compliance, inspections, and right-of-way maintenance among other things. Taking electricity tax and partially deviating some of it to road maintenance would mean an overall tax increase for all electricity consumers, many who don't use the road (which is why the proposed flat tax is called a "road use" tax). Additionally, the efficiency rate of the EV on a kW basis is much greater than gasoline, so any tax calculation would need to factor that in. Your neighbor may use twice the Electricity you do to operate his EV. Increasing your electricity tax based on total consumption means you will be paying for some of your neighbor's EV fuel.

The gas tax is a use tax which is fairly and equally levied on citizens of a state. Electricity for EV should be the same, a use tax.

I never said to increase the electricity tax, just repurpose some of it for roads.

The government already gets PLENTY of money from us. They are also getting EXTRA tax money from us due to our increased electricity usage. They just need to do a better job accounting for and spending it.

The solution shouldn’t be to make up a a new tax and charge us for it.

 

[Mach1E]

well except the taxes you pay for your electricity aren't earmarked for road maintenance and upkeep, gas taxes and ev user fees are.

Which is exactly why I think they should earmark some of them for that.

I’m kinda shocked how many people here seem to be in favor of paying more taxes than their neighbors.

I would have thought the idea would be to encourage BEV adoption by decreasing our taxes, not having us pay more than ICE drivers. ?‍

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