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WA State EV Sales Tax Exemption Updated

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That’s embarrassing. You linked a response to a question I asked in early January. Looks like early signs of what my Father refers to as “Sometimers”
LOL - I didn't realize that.

So, 318 registered in Jan. If we assume something similar - we are looking at reaching 7500 in Mar or April. So, the notification will be in Apr/May with the exemption ending in May/Jun.

Plenty of time for you to configure now & get the car. Infact, there seems to be enough time for me as well assuming I get the invite this month.

Jan - 6766
Feb - 7066
Mar - 7366
Apr - 7666
 
This is the "short" 60 day legislative session. It is scheduled to end on 3/8. It doesn't look good for this bill.

Not good!

The Legislature meets annually on the second Monday in January. In odd-numbered years, such as 2015, the Legislature meets for 105 days to write a two-year state budget and pass laws. In even-numbered years, they meet for 60 days to make adjustments to the two-year budget and pass laws.

how often does Washington state legeslature meet - Google Search
 
I'm going to play a bit of devil's advocate and question why this was set to draw funds from bike, pedestrian, and transit improvements. Those clearly seem to be efforts to get cars off the road, which frankly we are not doing by buying EVs. This should be funding from energy or environmental budgets. Would be nice if they could actually get a carbon tax passed some day--EVs seem like a natural beneficiary of some of those revenues.
 
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I'm going to play a bit of devil's advocate and question why this was set to draw funds from bike, pedestrian, and transit improvements.

The original legislation drew from the multimodal transportation account and this new bill was only intended to remove the 7500 vehicle limit and replace it with a hard deadline (June 30, 2021), thus the funding source remained the same. The sponsors acknowledged they were tempted to make improvements but calculated making minimal changes would have the best chance of success.
 
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The original legislation drew from the multimodal transportation account and this new bill was only intended to remove the 7500 vehicle limit and replace it with a hard deadline (June 30, 2021), thus the funding source remained the same. The sponsors acknowledged they were tempted to make improvements but calculated making minimal changes would have the best chance of success.

Yeah. And it cruised through the house (86 yes, 12 no) and most of the testimony at the hearing was still in favor. Even the panels who testified in opposition only opposed the bill because of the funding source. Not sure how it can not even be voted on in the senate. Hobbs said he was woefully short of getting the votes to pass it but I still think it is shady to not even hold a vote to let the public know.
 
Hobbs said he was woefully short of getting the votes to pass it but I still think it is shady to not even hold a vote to let the public know.

There are a lot of reasons to not bring the bill to the floor if the numbers are not there. Dems have just a one seat majority, so unless GOP leaders support it, they won't bring it.

Its also possible he was talking about the committee vote and not the full senate.
 
There are a lot of reasons to not bring the bill to the floor if the numbers are not there. Dems have just a one seat majority, so unless GOP leaders support it, they won't bring it.

Its also possible he was talking about the committee vote and not the full senate.

Yeah makes sense. This is a bummer that the government isn’t organized enough to make this happen. There is large scale support of the idea around it, but money is tough and I agree it doesn’t make sense to use alternative transport method money. I DO think an EV incentive at the state level is still needed for a couple of years. Most everyone I know still thinks EVs are not a viable option. The model 3 DEFINITELY is and there should be more to come.
 
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Anyone know anything about SB6080? Does that give consumers any direct discount or rebate? Looks like it’s up for discussion tomorrow.

I haven’t read the bill yet but someone said it extends the exemption to 10,000 cars sold. Would probably cap by like November but better than nothing I suppose?
 
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Anyone know anything about SB6080? Does that give consumers any direct discount or rebate? Looks like it’s up for discussion tomorrow.

I haven’t read the bill yet but someone said it extends the exemption to 10,000 cars sold. Would probably cap by like November but better than nothing I suppose?

Nice find! It increases the eligible base price and includes used vehicles but will mean more vehicles counting toward the 10,000 vehicle cap. Might ultimately mean an extension of only a few more months.

"Retail Sales and Use Tax. The sales and use tax exemption is made permanent and is extended to include used vehicles as well as medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks that meet certain power requirements. To qualify for the exemption, all new and used vehicles must meet an additional new requirement of being predominately used for travel within Washington over their usable lifetime. The exemption is extended to new or used passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and medium duty passenger vehicles. An exemption is added for new or used medium- and heavy-duty trucks for up to $125,000 of the vehicle's selling price or the total lease payments made plus the selling price of the leased vehicle. The vehicle base model price at which the sale or lease of a vehicle is not exempt from sales tax is changed from more than $42,500 to more than $50,000 for passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty passenger vehicles; or more than $150,000 for medium and heavy-duty trucks. Once DOL titles 7500 vehicles, the funding for the sales and use tax is shifted from the Multimodal Transportation Account to the Clean Energy Account."
 
Nice find! It increases the eligible base price and includes used vehicles but will mean more vehicles counting toward the 10,000 vehicle cap. Might ultimately mean an extension of only a few more months.

"Retail Sales and Use Tax. The sales and use tax exemption is made permanent and is extended to include used vehicles as well as medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks that meet certain power requirements. To qualify for the exemption, all new and used vehicles must meet an additional new requirement of being predominately used for travel within Washington over their usable lifetime. The exemption is extended to new or used passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and medium duty passenger vehicles. An exemption is added for new or used medium- and heavy-duty trucks for up to $125,000 of the vehicle's selling price or the total lease payments made plus the selling price of the leased vehicle. The vehicle base model price at which the sale or lease of a vehicle is not exempt from sales tax is changed from more than $42,500 to more than $50,000 for passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty passenger vehicles; or more than $150,000 for medium and heavy-duty trucks. Once DOL titles 7500 vehicles, the funding for the sales and use tax is shifted from the Multimodal Transportation Account to the Clean Energy Account."

Oh wow. It’s unlimited? That would be huge. Seems like a harder ask than the previous one though. I’d even be okay with a phase out system like the federal credit. I guess let’s see how this plays out. Seems like it came out of nowhere after little activity for a month or two.
 
Oh wow. It’s unlimited? That would be huge. Seems like a harder ask than the previous one though. I’d even be okay with a phase out system like the federal credit. I guess let’s see how this plays out. Seems like it came out of nowhere after little activity for a month or two.
Unlimited?
Looks like the new limit is 10,000 vehicles with only the first 7500 funded with the multimodal acct & the last 2500 funded by Clean Energy Acct
I assume still only the first 32000 is tax exempt?
 
Anyone know anything about SB6080?
Yes, this is the one my senator wrote to me about that he had authored. It looks like it improves in many ways over the existing law. I didn't see anything about limit of 10k (revision?), his intention was to extend it indefinitely with just a biennial review. I like the inclusion of used vehicles in the exemption as well as looking forward to incentives for trucks!
 
Yeah. Probably not going to impact me tax savings wise unfortunately. I don’t get what the big deal about the HB was other than the funding source. Some cool ideas in the original version of this one but Geesh. What’s the point of a 6 month extension?