New Washington State Budget raising EV tab fee from $100/yr to $150/yr

[Edgewood Dome]

Quick glance at the budget shows the EV fee increasing $50/yr.

 

[dsm363]

Quick glance at the budget shows the EV fee increasing $50/yr.

That's absurd. Someone who lives downtown and doesn't drive that much would never pay that much in gas tax. They really need a fuel agnostic way to tax cars.

 

[PhilBa]

They raised the gas tax too. Then justified the 50% EV tax increase by saying that some cars will pay that much in gas tax. Doing some simple math, a car that gets 35 mpg and goes 12000 miles per year would pay about $170 in gas tax.

Frankly, I don't mind paying a road use tax. A true mileage based road use tax would be fairer but that's not going to happen until EVs are more prevalent. Though, I suspect the legislature will simply opt to extend the EV fee to all cars instead. It's a lot simpler.

 

[walla2]

I have two teslas and a Zero fx. Adding a 4th with the x will put my ev tags at 600. Wtf. I don't drive 12000 miles a year. Why is 150 per EV appropriate? 150 per household or 150 per 12000 miles.

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Plus my gas cars pay gas tax. First world problems but this is a first world country.

 

[dsm363]

Either all cars get charged the same flat rate for a road access tax or they figure out how to charge cars based on mileage and weight. Agree picking one fuel type and slapping a flat fee on it because you can't figure out how else to tax it isn't right.

 

[breser]

Looks to me like they made a big mistake. They actually repealed the Electric Vehicle Fee until July 1 2016.

Here is the Transportation Bill:
http://leap.leg.wa.gov/leap/Budget/Detail/2015/cTRevenueBill0629.pdf

Search for Electric Vehicle Fee (page 31).

Section 203 covers the fee. It contains all of the following changes (on the existing law).

• They change the law to apply to PHEV (that can travel more than 30 miles on battery power).
• Remove the clause that makes section 203 apply to renewels due on or after February 1, 2013.
• Add a new clause that adds another $50 fee on top of the existing $100 fee.

But then they go and add a new section 204 that says.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 204. Section 203 of this act applies to vehicle registrations that are due or become due on or after July 1, 2016.

Section 203 includes the old and the new fee. Assuming this takes effect July 1, 2015, then there will be no Electric Vehicle Fee for a year.

Not sure if that's their intent but that's what it does.

 

[breser]

Small update. This passed both houses. Unclear at this point if the governor signed the transportation bill, but I'd presume so since I'd guess he considers it part of the budget that he said he signed last night.

SB 5987 - 2015-16


Governor Jay Inslee on Twitter:

 

[PhilBa]

Either all cars get charged the same flat rate for a road access tax or they figure out how to charge cars based on mileage and weight. Agree picking one fuel type and slapping a flat fee on it because you can't figure out how else to tax it isn't right.

At this point, they didn't want to let EVs off the taxation hook but setting up a bureaucracy to collect EV mileage based taxes right now would cost far more than it would collect. The whole EV tax thing is mostly symbolic as the revenue is pretty minimal and will be for some time to come.

 

[Seattle]

At this point, they didn't want to let EVs off the taxation hook but setting up a bureaucracy to collect EV mileage based taxes right now would cost far more than it would collect. The whole EV tax thing is mostly symbolic as the revenue is pretty minimal and will be for some time to come.

The fairest tax would be based on the product of miles driven in washington state and the weight of the car or some other measure of impact. Of course no one would stand for government gps tracking. Except we already have that with our phones, thanks NSA

Maybe we can get to a system where we just report our mileage once a year or something, and pay based on how much you drive that year. Yes, we drive out of state and so we'd be paying "extra" for that. For the gentleman with multiple vehicles, maybe you pay your $150 * number of drivers in your house?

But I don't see a better alternative to some basic tax. Another terrible solution is paying taxes based on how much electricity you use for your car, but evs have different efficiencies. EV owners are an easy mark, because we bought an expensive item and thus don't get much sympathy (unless you are big donors) and are mostly progressives (don't hate me too much), and willing to pay taxes for things that are for a public good. When these incentives were figured out a few years ago, people didn't foresee the rise of luxury evs. You can see that in Norway's probably over-incentive to buy a tesla.

I wonder what happened to the wa states electric vehicle pac deal? I'll have to read the forum and get up to date on that.

 

[freds]

Ok I need to renew my tabs as of the first. What do I expect to pay? Also I am about 1/4 of mile from having to pay an extra fee based on the purchase value of my of my car for public transit, which is not available without walking a couple of miles.

 

[breser]

Ok I need to renew my tabs as of the first. What do I expect to pay? Also I am about 1/4 of mile from having to pay an extra fee based on the purchase value of my of my car for public transit, which is not available without walking a couple of miles.

Looking now I'm pretty sure the bill hasn't been signed. I was figuring the updates on the website was just lagging but it still hasn't been signed by right people and even been put on the governors desk. So right now you still would have to pay the extra $100.

If your tag isn't expired yet I might hold off. Because the law as passed would get rid of it but none of that matters until it's signed by the governor and actually law. I believe what matters is what the law is when your tag is due.

 

[breser]

I've been preoccupied with TMC Connect but the transportation bill was delivered to the Governor and is supposed to be signed today.

https://crmpublicwebservice.des.wa.gov/bats/attachment/billactionnotice/d7675ac4-8129-e511-a5ee-005056ba1e68 (PDF)

The bill as it is being signed by the Governor appears to me to repeal the EV Fee until July 1, 2016.

 

[Six]

I've been preoccupied with TMC Connect but the transportation bill was delivered to the Governor and is supposed to be signed today.

https://crmpublicwebservice.des.wa....onnotice/d7675ac4-8129-e511-a5ee-005056ba1e68 (PDF)

The bill as it is being signed by the Governor appears to me to repeal the EV Fee until July 1, 2016.

My understanding is that the new $150 starts in mid 2016. For 2015 it would still be $100.

I would guess repeal language is to allow new fee in 2016 not to have zero for 2015. But I have not checked the actual bill language, you have seen it and may very well have found an interesting change. It would be very surprising to me that they would have a bill that would have a fee go from $100 to $0 then to $150 in the course of a year.

 

[breser]

My understanding is that the new $150 starts in mid 2016. For 2015 it would still be $100.

I would guess repeal language is to allow new fee in 2016 not to have zero for 2015. But I have not checked the actual bill language, you have seen it and may very well have found an interesting change. It would be very surprising to me that they would have a bill that would have a fee go from $100 to $0 then to $150 in the course of a year.

I think you're right about their intent. I think they intended to collect $100 until July 1, 2016 and then start collecting $150. But that's not how the law is written.

 

[PhilBa]

My registration runs through June. Guess that means I pay nothing next year. NOT. If there is a loop hole, it will get closed well before then.