Montana to initiate EV tax

[andaconda]

Oklahoma has a $110/year surcharge on EVs. Apparently this is the average amount of fuel tax paid per vehicle in Oklahoma per year. At this point I'm fine with paying a fixed fee vs the alternative of having the govt know how many miles/year I drive. Technically they should also consider gross-vehicle weight as heavier vehicles cause more damage to the roads. With ICEs this is automatic as a large truck gets ways worse mileage than a small car and so pays more in fuel taxes.

I suppose the other "fair" option is to surcharge electricity used for charging which is easy to do at a public charging station but would require a separate meter at home. No thanks.

The new law reads:

1) The annual registration fees for electric vehicles other than plug-in hybrid electric vehicles is as follows:

(a) $130 for class 1 vehicles;

(b) $190 for class 2 vehicles;

(c) $340 for class 3 vehicles; and

(d) $1,100 for class 4 vehicles.

(2) The annual registration fees for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles is as follows:

(a) $70 for class 1 vehicles;

(b) $100 for class 2 vehicles;

(c) $210 for class 3 vehicles; and

(d) $700 for class 4 vehicles.
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So yes, depending on weight the more it weights the more you'll pay.

Montana charges by the minute NOT by the Kwh for charging. I'm sure the next thing they will implement is changing it to per Kwh and then taxing per Kwh that is put into your vehicle. Maybe we better strike this thread from existence! Maybe our legislature are watching, and getting ideas. I would be willing to wager that NONE of our legislatures drive an electric vehicle.

 

[jboy210]

I am good with paying some fair amount for road upkeep and maintenance. What I am opposed to is the fixed amount per year.

If I drive 1,000 miles per year or 50,000 miles per year the tax on an EV is the same amount in Utah. It sounds like Montana is the same.

Same in California. And as long as the amount stays low, I prefer to go with a flat rate per year.

I would rather do that then spend time gather my miles driven in-state versus out-of-state and proof of the same, calculating amount owned, and then sending in my check for the proper amount. Plus, there would be the possibility of getting the amount wrong and being subject to some level of auditing and further penalties. Because you know like income taxes people will cheat on this fee/tax and the only way to catching is having auditing.

And what about those out of state miles? Could I owe tax to every state I travelled in?

 

[STS-134]

Same in California, and as long as the amount stays low, I prefer to go with a flat rate per year.

I would rather do that then spend time gather my miles driven in-state versus out-of-state and proof of the same, calculating amount owned, and then sending in my check for the proper amount. Plus, there would be the possibility of getting the amount wrong and being subject to some level of auditing and further penalties. Because you know like income taxes people will cheat on this fee/tax and the only way to catching is having auditing.

And what about those out of state miles? Could I own tax to every state I travelled in?

You should just get billed back to the same account that you use in state. I have a Fastrak account and I get billed to that account regardless of whether I use a state-owned bridge, a bridge owned by the Golden Gate Transportation District, roads owned by the Orange County Transportation Authority, etc. Just put transponders on all roads and require people to use them.

 

[jboy210]

You should just get billed back to the same account that you use in state. I have a Fastrak account and I get billed to that account regardless of whether I use a state-owned bridge, a bridge owned by the Golden Gate Transportation District, roads owned by the Orange County Transportation Authority, etc. Just put transponders on all roads and require people to use them.

Imagine the expense of installing a state-wide FasTrak system on every road and highway? And then having to have support all that associated infrastructure. Just bill a flat annual fee as part of the annual registration, as CA does now.

 

[KJD]

Same in California. And as long as the amount stays low, I prefer to go with a flat rate per year.

I would rather do that then spend time gather my miles driven in-state versus out-of-state and proof of the same, calculating amount owned, and then sending in my check for the proper amount. Plus, there would be the possibility of getting the amount wrong and being subject to some level of auditing and further penalties. Because you know like income taxes people will cheat on this fee/tax and the only way to catching is having auditing.

And what about those out of state miles? Could I owe tax to every state I travelled in?

You are just trying to make things way more complicated than it needs to be. For most people 90% or more of their travel will be in the home state. Just ignore out of state vs in state miles.

The car you drive right now has all the equipment you need and that is the odometer. Just come up with a standard rate per mile and do one calculation. Miles x rate. Done. Just add this amount to the standard registration fee every year and it works.

 

[STS-134]

Imagine the expense of installing a state-wide FasTrak system on every road and highway? And then having to have support all that associated infrastructure. Just bill a flat annual fee as part of the annual registration, as CA does now.

Why should I pay the same amount as someone who clogs up the freeways at 5:30 pm every day or someone who drives 50,000 miles a year? Imagine the expense of installing a system that bills people based on electricity and water and gas they actually use instead of just billing everyone a flat rate for the utility services...oh wait, we already have one. And it's far easier to setup a tolling system for all of the major roads than it is to put a meter on literally every building.

 

[Midpack]

Odometer. That at least in some way works the same way as fuel taxation, being linked to usage.

And yes, you can drive miles out of state. Well, people have been crossing borders and buying gas in the cheaper state/country for ages. Deal with it. Doesn't have to be perfect it just at least needs the correct principle.

They address different vehicle weights a bit with the weight bands, but clearly the bottom bands has wide variations between cost for gas vehicle drivers that's not represented for EV drivers.

Whether road fees being heavily linked to usage is correct is a different question.

I don't care which way it is, as long as it's as close to the correct way and it's consistent. Making EVs pay a fixed fee but ICEVs pay a variable fee is wrong.

And, generally, taxes that don't tax usage into account can be a problem. For example, we pay by the bag for trash collection. We also have curbside recycling. Trash reduced significantly after they introduced pay-per-bag. It just nudged people.

Yes, there's an extra overhead if a state doesn't already record odometer on registrations, but if governments make the decision that per-mile is the way to go, then they can get the industry to introduce a standard way to make reading of VIN and odometer easy for road pricing.

Yes, let’s grow the market for tampering with odometers. Tampering with digital odometers is even harder to detect than mechanical odometers were…

 

[jboy210]

Why should I pay the same amount as someone who clogs up the freeways at 5:30 pm every day or someone who drives 50,000 miles a year? Imagine the expense of installing a system that bills people based on electricity and water and gas they actually use instead of just billing everyone a flat rate for the utility services...oh wait, we already have one. And it's far easier to setup a tolling system for all of the major roads than it is to put a meter on literally every building.

The equivalency with utilities at a fixed location is false. And only collecting fees on certain roads has its own set of problems. It forces people off the highways and down on city streets. I witness these each time we go to the Austin area, where most of the highways are toll roads and moderately busy, but the parallel roads are full of cars trying to escape the tolls.