E.V. Owners Don’t Pay Gas Taxes. So, Many States Are Charging Them Fees.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/27/business/ev-fees-gas-tax.html

by TrixoftheTrade

16 comments

  1. “States are using higher registration fees for electric cars to make up for declining fuel taxes, but some are punitive, environmentalists say. A federal tax could be coming.”

    [archive link](https://archive.is/lFv2T)

  2. Makes sense, taxes make the world better for everyone

  3. Makes sense. They still put wear and tear on the roads. Those fees are called taxes and we all have to pay our share to make things work.

  5. This transition was going to have to happen eventually.

    Gas taxes are nice because the more you use the road, the more gas you buy, the more taxes you pay.

    Road upkeep isn’t going away.

  6. CA already has a smog law where you need to take your car in for inspection every other year.. in theory, they could “inspect” mileage instead. imagine paying for insurance the same way…

    [https://caroadcharge.com/projects/road-charge-collection-pilot/](https://caroadcharge.com/projects/road-charge-collection-pilot/)

    The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is conducting a research study from August 2024 through January 2025 **to test if a per-mile fee, called a Road Charge,** would be a fair and sustainable way to replace the gas tax. Participants have been selected and enrollment is now closed.  Thank you for the overwhelming interest to be a part of this study!

    California passed Senate Bill 339 in 2021 to test the payment of a road charge and report the research study results back to the Legislature. Feedback from participants on their experience in the Road Charge Collection Pilot will also be shared in the study results.

  7. We aren’t going to have a pro-capitalism and free market solution of carbon taxes, wherein the social cost of emissions are included in the cost of gas and/or electricity, so it’s still dishonest despite making sense.

    Increasing the gas tax is a default carbon tax, but it’s been untagged to inflation since the 1990’s. 

  8. I think the fair way to calculate any “road tax” would be to account weight and emissions of the vehicle. Yes, ev cars might weight more than conventional, but with 0 emissions they still should pay less than your average pickup driver

  10. I pay an extra 100 a year for my registration for my hybrid. it’s annoying but not a big deal. My suv gets the same mpg as my last small efficient sedan.

  11. I agree that ev owners should contribute to road maintenance but gas owners should pay for destroying the environment.

  13. I mean… they should?

    We should just move to a system that calculates mileage with a weight multiplier, and taxes based on that.

  14. Yeah, good. Fuel source doesn’t matter.

    If anything EVs put MORE wear and tear on roads by being much heavier than gas equivalent

  15. I have an EV. My car registration is 5x that of a gas car because I don’t pay a gas tax. I drive on the roads so this is my contribution to their maintenance.

  16. If you walked, they would charge a shoe tax, and require belt insurance. You would pay per step. Anything to claw their money from your pockets.

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