Congress is considering a bill that would establish an annual fee to be paid by owners of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid cars. The purpose is to have owners of these vehicles pay their fair share of the cost to repair roads.
Last year, Congress eliminated subsidies worth as much as $7,500 for electric vehicle purchases and leases. Those subsidies were established to encourage electric car adoption and help wean the country’s dependence on oil with its geopolitical and environmental difficulties. Eliminating the subsidies has had the opposite effect, unsurprisingly. However, the war in Iran with its skyrocketing gas prices has revitalized the appetite for electric cars.
There has been a federal gasoline tax of 18.4 cents per gallon for over 30 years, earmarked for keeping the country’s roads in good condition. It is reasonable that EV owners should pay their share as well. However, what a gas car driver pays depends on how much they drive as well as what kind of car they drive. Americans typically pay $73 to $89 a year in federal fuel taxes. The bill before Congress establishes a $130 annual fee, so that EV drivers would be paying more than their fair share.
Once again, this would be another effort to reduce the adoption of electric cars. President Trump has proposed suspending the federal gasoline tax to provide relief from rising fuel costs. If this happens, only EV drivers would be supporting the roads. It remains to be seen what actually will happen.
