Proposed Florida Electric/Hybrid Vehicle Flat Tax

[Frog760]

Some moron near Tampa came up with this ridiculous garbage. Electrics already pay taxes on the electricity they use. Superchargers cost more than gas when the price of fuel is under $3/gallon. More drivers don't pay this much gas tax today...why charge us more? Why charge heavy drivers the same rate as light drivers? A quick internet search provided some data showing this is such bullshit. Link to story: Should electric vehicles have yearly registration fees?

Florida Gas Tax Per Gallon
$0.35225
Annual Mileage	MPG	Annual Tax
20,000​	25.4​	$277.36​	Average MPG for all types of cars
20,000​	50​	$140.90​	Average for Motorcycles
20,000​	29​	$242.93​	Average for SUVs
20,000​	40​	$176.13​	Average for all Hybrids
13,480​	25.4​	$186.94​	Average miles driven per FHWA
13,480​	50​	$94.97​
13,480​	29​	$163.74​
13,480​	40​	$118.71​
7,600​	25.4​	$105.40​	Average Miles driven by 16-19
7,600​	50​	$53.54​	year olds and those over 65 in
7,600​	29​	$92.31​	Florida
7,600​	40​	$66.93​

 

[Aussie M3]

Some moron near Tampa came up with this ridiculous garbage. Electrics already pay taxes on the electricity they use. Superchargers cost more than gas when the price of fuel is under $3/gallon. More drivers don't pay this much gas tax today...why charge us more? Why charge heavy drivers the same rate as light drivers? A quick internet search provided some data showing this is such bullshit. Link to story: Should electric vehicles have yearly registration fees?

Florida Gas Tax Per Gallon
$0.35225
Annual Mileage	MPG	Annual Tax
20,000​	25.4​	$277.36​	Average MPG for all types of cars
20,000​	50​	$140.90​	Average for Motorcycles
20,000​	29​	$242.93​	Average for SUVs
20,000​	40​	$176.13​	Average for all Hybrids
13,480​	25.4​	$186.94​	Average miles driven per FHWA
13,480​	50​	$94.97​
13,480​	29​	$163.74​
13,480​	40​	$118.71​
7,600​	25.4​	$105.40​	Average Miles driven by 16-19
7,600​	50​	$53.54​	year olds and those over 65 in
7,600​	29​	$92.31​	Florida
7,600​	40​	$66.93​

 

[Aussie M3]

You guys are lucky here in Victoria Australia For 2 years we have a distanced based tax that increases each year with CPI is at the end of our financial year June/July and is for all km driven regardless of what state you are in.
Issue
1. You send a photo of your odometer

2. If your car is registered after EFY you have a calculated pro rata for the increase averaged out on km travelled in the year of registration.

3. It is only collected by the state at registration renewal ,if you’re a business and registration is out of state no tax is collected.
At the moment there is a high court case in play to overturn the law.

4. We have a 10% GST on all goods and services

Our SC rates are $0.55- $0.65 c/ kWh in AUD.

 

[HankLloydRight]

Electrics already pay taxes on the electricity they use.

You're missing the point. Not one cent of tax on electricity goes towards public road maintenance.

The final quote in the article seems to be sound logic:

“If they’re not paying a gas tax for the roads and they’re using the same public roads as us, then maybe it should be. Definitely something should possibly be in place.”

You might not like it, but we're all using the exact same public roads, yet not paying one-cent of gas tax. Sure, it should be based on mileage and not a flat rate, you have that part right. But that would require you reporting your odometer reading to the state or local government to levy the tax. And a lot of people don't like that idea either.

Superchargers cost more than gas when the price of fuel is under $3/gallon.

Doesn't matter what SCs cost or the price of fuel. We're talking about taxes for using public roads. If SC were 10x the price of fuel, you're still driving the same miles on the same roads.

More drivers don't pay this much gas tax today...why charge us more?

I assume you mean "most drivers". $200/year, IMHO is a reasonable tax for using the same public roads, and I drive <10k miles per year. I want to keep the roads around here well maintained and pot-hole free, especially in seasonal climates where the roads take a beating in the winter.

If it were $150 or $100 would you still balk at that?

But until there's some way to tax EV owners based on actual mileage without needing to report annual odometer readings, there aren't many other ways to levy the tax.