NM EV Tax - SB 181

[Someguy4747]

Legislation - New Mexico Legislature

SB - 181 proposes to tax EV owners a flat $100 per year. This is disproportionate compared to the $0.17 tax charged per gallon of gasoline. For instance an ICE vehicle driving 12,000 miles per year with an average mpg of 25 would only pay $81 in taxes. Drivers of newer more efficient vehicles would pay much less. Low mileage EV owners would be the most disproportionately taxed. This proposed bill is a lazy attempt to raise road funds that could result in the slower adoption of EVs. There is also a portion of the bill that proposed to tax hybrid owners a flat $50 fee, in addition to the gas taxes they already pay. This is also disproportionate.

I recommend you contact the sponsor of the bill, state senator, Bill
Tallman.
[email protected]

Legislator - New Mexico Legislature

 

[tmoz]

Legislation - New Mexico Legislature

SB - 181 proposes to tax EV owners a flat $100 per year. This is disproportionate compared to the $0.17 tax charged per gallon of gasoline. For instance an ICE vehicle driving 12,000 miles per year with an average mpg of 25 would only pay $81 in taxes. Drivers of newer more efficient vehicles would pay much less. Low mileage EV owners would be the most disproportionately taxed. This proposed bill is a lazy attempt to raise road funds that could result in the slower adoption of EVs. There is also a portion of the bill that proposed to tax hybrid owners a flat $50 fee, in addition to the gas taxes they already pay. This is also disproportionate.

I recommend you contact the sponsor of the bill, state senator, Bill
Tallman.
[email protected]

Legislator - New Mexico Legislature

Sadly, the math skills of legislators is often non-existent.

 

[cpa]

Legislation - New Mexico Legislature

SB - 181 proposes to tax EV owners a flat $100 per year. This is disproportionate compared to the $0.17 tax charged per gallon of gasoline. For instance an ICE vehicle driving 12,000 miles per year with an average mpg of 25 would only pay $81 in taxes. Drivers of newer more efficient vehicles would pay much less. Low mileage EV owners would be the most disproportionately taxed. This proposed bill is a lazy attempt to raise road funds that could result in the slower adoption of EVs. There is also a portion of the bill that proposed to tax hybrid owners a flat $50 fee, in addition to the gas taxes they already pay. This is also disproportionate.

I recommend you contact the sponsor of the bill, state senator, Bill
Tallman.
[email protected]

Legislator - New Mexico Legislature

I am not defending the legislators, their math skills, or their nefarious ways. The federal gasoline tax is 18.4 cents/gallon. Since the federal gasoline taxes make their way back to the states (not necessarily proportionate to amount paid--we can save that discussion for another day), how would this factor into the equation, since drivers of ICE vehicles are paying 35.4 cents per gallon in fuel taxes?

 

[Someguy4747]

I am not defending the legislators, their math skills, or their nefarious ways. The federal gasoline tax is 18.4 cents/gallon. Since the federal gasoline taxes make their way back to the states (not necessarily proportionate to amount paid--we can save that discussion for another day), how would this factor into the equation, since drivers of ICE vehicles are paying 35.4 cents per gallon in fuel taxes?

My thoughts are that any taxes the state implements should be proportional, but still less than state ICE taxes (to encourage EV adoption). The federal government will eventually come for their share and they will not discriminate based on individual states that choose to heavily tax EVs based on the current lack of federal taxes, so the state should not be doubling down at this time. If there were an overwhelming number of EVs on the road, I may feel differently, but this is hardly a crisis for the road funds as EVs are far from reaching any sort of critical mass.