Pennsylvania state legislators want to slap electric vehicle owners with a $250 annual tax. The bill was introduced by state Rep. Mike Carroll, who represents an area just south of Scranton (contact form here), and is the ranking Democrat on the Pennsylvania House’s Transportation Committee. The bill has bipartisan support, and both chambers of the legislature are controlled by state Republicans.
Back in February 2017, we reported on the fossil fuel industry’s push for EV taxes. We’ve debunked those arguments as well.
Last month, Consumer Reports released an alarming study on state EV taxes, showing “that of the 26 states that currently impose EV fees, 11 charge more than the amount owners of similar gas-powered cars pay in gas taxes, and three charge more than twice the amount.”
Shannon Baker-Branstetter, manager of cars and energy policy for Consumer Reports, writes in the Pennsylvania Capital-Star that the $250 tax is “well above what average new gasoline-powered vehicle owners pay in gas taxes.”
The “State of Independence”? More like the State of Dependence. This tax will only prolong Pennsylvanians’ reliance on the foreign monarchs and potentates that control the fossil fuel industry. “Oh please prince, just a few more gallons?”
Imagine Benjamin Franklin were alive to see this? The man who invented the lightning rod and made numerous electric discoveries also spent a long time in the Pennsylvania legislature, even holding the title “President of Pennsylvania” (essentially, Governor) at one point.
Pennsylvania’s electricity is home-grown, with a mix of nuclear (39%), natural gas (36%) and coal (21%) – and even with this mix, it’s still 68% less polluting to drive an EV. Pennsylvania ranks second in the USA for both nuclear power generation and natural gas production, and is the third-largest coal producing state. Conversely, the state’s oil boom ended in 1901.
Pennsylvania should invoke the spirit – and discoveries – of its founding father and seize independence by going all-in on electric vehicles. Help make that happen.
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mystmaker on October 20th, 2019 at 01:35 UTC »
Welcome to Pennsylvania. Now, we're going to tax you for reading this comment about Pennsylvania.
dalkon on October 20th, 2019 at 00:24 UTC »
According to the federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) report Excessive Truck Weight: An Expensive Burden We Can No Longer Support: "trucks are the principle cause of traffic related deterioration of the highways."
Other significant causes of damage to asphalt are leaking vehicle fluids. Fully electric vehicles don't have an engine to use engine oil to have any to leak. And while electric vehicles still have transmissions, they are simple gearboxes that are much less likely to leak. Only hybrid electric vehicles still have engine oil and complex transmissions. Electric vehicles are as likely to leak brake fluid as gas cars, but brake fluid is the least likely fluid to leak, because when brake fluid leaks, the brakes eventually stop working. Electric vehicles also don't have power steering fluid, which is another commonly leaked fluid. To summarize destructive fluids, hybrids have the same problems as gas vehicles, diesel-engine vehicles risk causing additional damage, but fully electric vehicles lack most of the fluids that damage roads.
There are also a couple of differences that make electric vehicles cause extra road damage. Electric vehicles usually weigh more, which causes more damage, but except for the top-of-the-line sports cars, they still don't weigh as much as passenger trucks, and obviously nothing close to commercial trucks. The weight of electric vehicles is also evenly distributed, which reduces road damage. Carrying more weight on one axle is more damaging. Electric vehicles also have more torque especially the sports cars, which is more destructive to roads and tires than fuel powered vehicles with weaker torque.
Perhaps most importantly, for all the discouragement this tax could cause electric vehicle sales, an annual electric vehicle tax would barely produce any additional revenue. https://www.penncapital-star.com/commentary/an-electric-car-tax-wont-solve-pas-transportation-woes-but-it-could-increase-pollution-opinion/
This annual tax would discourage people from using electric vehicles, which is bad for the environment for greenhouse gases but also for the other forms of pollution that cause health problems like sulfur and nitrogen oxides and particulates. In the past couple decades we have learned smog harms children's lungs for life. And pollution from fossil fuel traffic causes 4 million child asthma cases every year. “This landmark study shows the massive global burden of asthma in children caused by traffic pollution,” said Chris Griffiths, co-director of the Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research. “Asthma is only one of the multiple adverse effects of pollution on children’s health. Governments must act now to protect children.” Large trucks especially commercial trucks also produce much more of these health-damaging pollutants.
Except for electric sports cars, electric vehicles should pay a much lower road maintenance tax than gas vehicles especially trucks, because they cause much less damage to roads and produce drastically much less health-damaging pollution. If there is a budget shortfall, commercial truck diesel or all diesel should be taxed more instead of taxing electric cars and especially at a higher rate than gas cars.
redditnameforme on October 19th, 2019 at 22:16 UTC »
Why not just include miles driven,# of Axel's on yearly registration and make that the road tax. Seems fair to me.