Yes, paying more dollars in taxes than before hurts in the wallet, but they're not raising the VLT. They're reducing a reduction of VLT so that we with EV/AFV cars pay the same tax rate as everyone else. Sure it's a distinction without a financial difference, but it's an important semantic one. My former boss with his Masseratti is paying more per year than I did with my Prius, too. It's only fair, to be perfectly honest. And I say that despite ranting about the sticker shock I'd go through every darn year. I'm still used to the $20 registration fee Vermont charged every couple years as opposed to AZ's hundreds of dollars annually.
And besides, with pulling in the fair tax rate from all the Teslas and e-VWs and e-BMWs I see on the Loop 101, maybe they'll have the money to finally finish the lane expansion sometime this decade.