Should electric cars pay a per mile tax?
EUGENE, Ore. - Kirk Gebb owns an all-electric Nissan Leaf.
Gebb doesn't buy any gas, which means he doesn't pay any gas tax.
"I just don't understand why more people don't adopt this," Gebb said. "Just so much more efficient than any gas vehicle is. It makes sense."
Many Oregonians agree: over the past decade, drivers here have purchased hybrid and electric cars at twice the national average.
But that presents a problem for the Oregon Department of Transportation, which relies on gas taxes to pay for nearly 60 percent of all road work.
For the past decade, James Whitty at ODOT has worked on an alternative system to the per gallon gas tax.
"Road system revenues will dry up and the system falls apart. Nobody wants that," Whitty said of the transition from gas to alternative fuel vehicles. "The fact that fuel efficient vehicles should pay or not isn't the question. They have to at some point pay, or you don't have a road system."
Whitty came up with something called the road usage charge pilot project.
The idea is to require hybrid or electric drivers to pay by the mile instead of at the pump. The proposal: one and a half cents for every mile driven in Oregon.
Over the course of a three month pilot program, a KVAL News test of a smartphone app and plug-in device resulted in a monthly mileage bill for $4.50.
"It just took us 10 years or so to figure out how to make it appropriate so people will find it not a difficult thing or frightening thing to do," Whitty said.
The legislation working its way through the state Capitol would slowly phase the road usage charge in. It would only initially apply to drivers whose cars get more than 55 miles a gallon. If passed as written, it won't go into effect until 2015.
Gebb, who owns a Leaf and is shopping for another alternative fuel car for his wife, is frightened by the privacy issues raised by the ODOT program. He doesn't like the idea of being tracked and would prefer to pay a flat, annual fee.
"Not looking for a free ride. Looking to pay my fair share," he said. "Just want that fair share to be a reasonable share."
First I want to thank all you progressives for your driving high mileage cars. Now the funny part, your liberal politicians are going to tax you because they are falling short with the fuel tax. Happy motoring.
Well since bicycles are not paying for using the roads, the city fathers should start taxing you bicylist to make up their shortfall with the fuel tax and maybe a law requiring insurance just like any other vehicle using the roads. Also, most bicyclist should have an education in how to obey the rules of the road.
I like the idea of increasing the registration fee for personal use vehicles and basing it on vehicle cost, age, and gas mileage. Maybe giving incentives to greener and newer vehicles. It would be a big, very big, once a year hit, but folks might rethink the type of car they purchase.
I would think this type of plan would be easier to implement and tweak once In place. And much easier for me to understand.
Sounds like Oregon the GREEN STATE needs to figure out a better tax structure for funds to the roads and highways - to rely on a oil industry product to supply taxes - is stupid. The entire world is moving away from oil/gas/coal and Oregon needs to figure out how to support that move without digging at consumers over it - Usually the money collected for car registration and other motor/trailer/boat fees and payments are used for roads and highways - that would be a good move.
Invading a persons privacy by tracking them will not be accepted and will not work. Sounds like a quick lazy solution. If Oregon has enough money to put a tracking device on every green energy car - they can afford to find a less costly - invasive tax plan.
I do not understand why someone would not expect to pay for a service they use..i.e. the highway system. Just because you choose to buy an electric / hybrid vehicle does not excuse you from helping to support the roads you will be driving on. It's great you chose a less polluting mode of transportation but it still uses the roads.
No new or "fair" or creative taxes!! You've seen the condiition of many of our roads and bridges through out the State...
Start cutting administrative positions....period
@flor3nc3 I agree no more new or additional tax, until the public employee unions bring them in line with the private sector. The people that scream for fairness had better look at what is going on in the public employee sector as compared to what is going on in the private sector. Especially PERS.
Yes but Only the ones that have Obama/Biden bumper stickers on them!!!!kidding!
We should keep in mind that there is a difference between fairness and equality. Â If equality was the goal, then we should tax every vehicle on a per-mile basis. Â We could even take it a step further and multiply the mileage by a factor depending on the weight of the vehicle; heavier vehicles, that tend to do more damage to our transportation infrastructure should be pay more, for each mile, than a person driving a Honda Civic. Â
The taxation could become quite complicated if we wish to achieve equality. Â Let's be reasonable and provide an incentive for the consumer, who votes with his or her wallet, to support forms of transportation that do not send hundreds of billions of dollars to the countries that hate us; countries that have required trillions of dollars of our military intervention, just so that you and I can have the luxury of spending four dollars a gallon at the pump. . .
@Mr. Smith So our taxation is to become a punishment and reward system rather than a way to fund infrastructure by those who use it?
@PleaseBeSmart@Mr. SmithI have never thought of it that way but you do add an interesting perspective. I guess we are all punished when we make purchases and are subject to sales tax. Additionally, people who make sacrifices and work hard are punished with higher income taxes so that the stupid and useless may be rewarded for his or her laziness.
And at this point, with EV's comprising a fraction of a percentage of vehicles on the road, it seems unreasonable to rewrite the existing tax laws regarding highway revenue.In all seriousness though, taxation is a difficult issue. Taxpayers subsidize many things including public education, health care and research, food production and agriculture, and public welfare/social security. There is no promise here that you will only pay for your fair share of what you use. Â
If your an Oregonian, and using the road systems that are built from gas taxes, then yes, you should pay your fair share for the roads. I'm all for alternative forms of fuel for vehicles, but that does not give you a "pass go" and not pay for the roads you travel on.
I also think that bicycles should pay a modest sum too for the paths that are provided for them.
I do think our dependance on fossil fuel needs to come to an end in the near future, but with all the electric cars that are plugging in at night, where is this energy coming from? Maybe not locally, but something has to be producing it elsewhere if not hydro, but coal fired maybe? So even as good as all-electric sounds, it's not 100% pollution free, yet.
What about bicycles? They don't buy or pay gas tax yet they use the roads and are subject to the rules of the road. It takes money from the road funds to make bike lanes doesn't it? If we are on the fairness kick again, let's pull out the stops or leave it alone.Â
no
I'm an EV advocate. I've been driving electric cars for over ten years now and I generate my electricity from sunlight, so I don't pay the oil companies or the utilities for my energy.
That said, I'm in favor of a weight/mile tax for EVs, but not until we reach some reasonable number of vehicles. I think 1% of the vehicles registered in the state would be a good milestone beyond which this new tax can take effect.
Keep in mind that those who use gasoline and diesel are not paying close to the full cost of that fuel, so to be really fair, we should increase gas taxes on the federal level to make up for the military, environmental, health and economic costs of oil. When you look into these costs, they are quite large, so the tax would need to be increased over time so as not to hurt the economy too much.
As an example, a RAND study found that we're spending $80 billion every year for military protection for oil. This is exclusive of the war. The Iraq war was clearly fought becuse of their oil and we spent $1.5 trillion and lost thousands of dead soldiers. When you buy gas, you pay nothing for that.
@Paul Scott lets just focus for now on the fact you pay NOTHING.Â
No. Its not fair. They bought the vehicles to help cut down on dependence on fuel and less emissions. Whats next, motorcycle riders whos bikes get more than 55 MPG? Which includes many of us. Let them pay for their electricity. Just stop tax credits for buying electric cars. And what about tourists? Are they going to be stopped at the border for a "smart phone app?" Its got to be fair, for every single person.