Dear fellow Ohio residents: This summer our legislature passed a new EV and HEV tax that takes effect starting on Jan. 1 2020. It's one of the highest in the country. But if you renew your registration now you can avoid this tax. All registrations entered on or before Dec. 31, 2019 will not have the tax added yet. I am not entirely certain how far in advance you can submit your registration. My family has birthdays in Jan and Feb and I know we can renew before the end of the year. You can login to the state's BMV website, attempt an online renewal and certainly find out. There is also the possibility of renewing your registration for up to 5 years (which I just did for my Model 3 and my Honda Accord HEV). I am not certain if they will come back at a later date and demand that tax be paid for all of those years or not.
I fully understand the reasoning for why they implemented this tax and expect to pay my fair share for road maintenance. But, the tax is way too high and fails to take into account the added benefit that HEV and EV users are contributing to the world's carbon problem. The tax particularly hits hybrid users harshly. When I drove my HEV exclusively I logged around 20,000 miles/year and saved an average of 100 gallons of gas a year. With today's price of gas that was a $250-300 savings annually. The $100 HEV tax would have eaten into that savings substantially. And for people who drive far less than I do, it can actually end up costing them money to drive a hybrid!
In addition, the new tax is going to be punitive for those Ohio residents who buy a Tesla after Jan. 1. Their federal tax rebate will be gone but they will be left holding a tax bill for $200/year. It's a ridiculously high amount, but like I said, if possible renew before Dec. 31 to avoid it for at least another year and possibly longer if they don't come back and retroactively apply taxes for multi-year renewals.
I fully understand the reasoning for why they implemented this tax and expect to pay my fair share for road maintenance. But, the tax is way too high and fails to take into account the added benefit that HEV and EV users are contributing to the world's carbon problem. The tax particularly hits hybrid users harshly. When I drove my HEV exclusively I logged around 20,000 miles/year and saved an average of 100 gallons of gas a year. With today's price of gas that was a $250-300 savings annually. The $100 HEV tax would have eaten into that savings substantially. And for people who drive far less than I do, it can actually end up costing them money to drive a hybrid!
In addition, the new tax is going to be punitive for those Ohio residents who buy a Tesla after Jan. 1. Their federal tax rebate will be gone but they will be left holding a tax bill for $200/year. It's a ridiculously high amount, but like I said, if possible renew before Dec. 31 to avoid it for at least another year and possibly longer if they don't come back and retroactively apply taxes for multi-year renewals.
