Arizona Considers Charging Electric Cars Tax At 1.43¢ Per Mile
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For many years, Arizona was considered an electric-car friendly state, thanks to California-style tailpipe emissions and mandates which required automakers to sell a certain percentage of zero-emissions cars in order to sell in the state.
But less than a month after the Arizona Governor’s Regulatory Review Council voted to repeal the state’s Clean Cars law and adopt the less-stringent emissions standards set out in Federal law, the state is now considering charging a pay-per-mile tax on electric car use.
Arizona House Bill 2257 -- introduced by Rep. Steve Farley (D-AZ) -- is modeled on proposed Oregonian legislation and would charge electric car owners up to 1.43 cents per mile travelled.
Like the $100 per year tax being proposed in Washington state and the electric car electricity tax being discussed in Kansas, the proposed Arizona tax would be the electric car equivalent of the tax currently levied on gasoline purchases statewide.
Like the gasoline tax, any funds from the pay-per-mile tax would be spent on maintaining the state’s road network.
“One of the only ways we pay for our roadways is through gas tax, so if they’re not paying into the gas tax system we need to find a way of closing that loophole, and getting them to pay for the roads they use,” Rep. Farley told the Cronkite News. “It’s only fair that we pay for the things we use.”
The majority of electric car owners in Arizona agree, according to Jim Stack, president of the Phoenix chapter of the Electric Auto Association.
“Someday it’s all going to be hybrids and electric vehicles,” he said. “it wouldn’t do us any good if we didn’t have any roads.”
But some consumer groups, whilst acknowledging the need to devise a tax system that ensures electric car owners also pay towards road upkeep, have pointed out that the tax could be too much, too soon.
Given the relatively high sticker price of most electric cars on the market today, they argue, an additional taxation system may put off prospective buyers from making the switch.
Diane Brown, executive director of Arizona Public Interest Research Group, had a stark warning to make, despite supporting the taxation of electric cars.
“Any policy that is accounting for electric vehicles should be incentivizing, not discouraging,” she said.
Just how should electric car owners be taxed to help pay for the roads they use? Are taxation schemes too harsh? Have they happened too quickly? Will they discourage electric vehicle adoption?
Let us know in the Comments below.
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Have an opinion?
This way all users are taxed same way
Else you could just avoid the tax by getting a license-plate in an other ev-friendly state!
I can always register my LEAF in CA. where I have I we have a home.
i know it is a big assumption, but let's just naively assume that the govt actually uses the money for roads. the ultimate goal is to make everyone pay for his "breakdown" of the road being used.
part of that is how often he uses it. but maybe even more importantly, is the weight of the vehicle. i would think that a semi does a lot more damage to a road surface than a hummer.
which in turn, does a lot more damage than the leaf.
having this as part of "the tax" might also encourage people not to buy more than they need. i mean, just how many people "need" a hummer ?
Plus, this is surely a "solution" in search of a problem? How many electric cars are on the road? How much money is saved due to reduced air pollution? And every dollar saved by not buying foreign oil means it stays in the local economy, so there are lots of savings from electric cars.
I smell a knee-jerk Republican scheme to fight what they perceive as President Obama's policies.
Neil
In effect the oil lobbyists nation has bought off the whole Republican party with favors and election campaign funding.
i am guessing that one of the easiest ways of accomplishing this is a tax on "electrical use" past a certain limit.
for the past couple of years, edison has been installing smart meters. that no doubt will be a nationwide system, eventually.
we are entering the "electric age".
I guess the Oil company's win again as usual.
It seems that AZ wants to unfairly tax EV drivers and that's really silly.
But I won't argue against EV owners paying their "fair share" for road maintenance.
I would be ok with a REASONABLE mileage surcharge added to yearly auto registration but, not if it involves some sort of intrusive tracking or a second home power meter.
A 1.43 cents per mile TAX means a Nissan Leaf owner would pay the equivalent of $1.42/gallon in TAXES, a Prius owner would pay $ 0.72/gal. in TAXES and the average 80,000 lbs. truck would pay $0.08/gallon tax. Which causes more wear and tear on our roads a Nissan Leaf or an 80,000 lbs. truck?
The current Arizona fuel tax rate is $0.18/gallon So an Arizona Prius owner pays approximately 0.36 cents per mile travelled. Even an owner of a Ford f-150 4x4 pickup only pays 0.86 cents per mile in Arizona. Again, which causes more wear and tear on our roads a Nissan Leaf or a larger and heavier 4x4 pickup?
Arizona put 19c on a gallon of gas. That about a 5% tax rate. The average mileage is the USA is 22 miles per gallon. So the tax per mile for gas cars is about 0.82 cents per mile.
A smidgen bit unfair don't you think?
my Prius costs 8 cents a mile to drive in gas purhases. my Leaf costs less than 3 (2.65-2.9 cents per mile). add this tax to my Leaf and it brings to price to "just about" 4 cents per mile which is still about half the cost of the Prius.
now this is AZ where the likelihood of having solar and PAYING NOTHING for electricity for your EV is high. so this tax is a way for you to help support the road system since most of that comes from gas tax. i see no problem with this. i do think that AZ should wait a
and for those of you who posted that it would cost you $68 to commute in a Leaf. were you in a conscious state when you wrote that
The other potential problem is how the mileage will be tracked. IMHO, A yearly odometer check would be less invasive to privacy.
1) I drive my Suburban 12,000 miles (get 15 mpg) Pay $3.25/gallon Spend $2,600.00 on gas (800 gallons @ 3.25). Arizona collects $152.00 tax (.19 x 800 gallons),(AZ gas tax is .19/gal)
2) I drive my Leaf 12,000 miles, costs $326 in electricity; Arizona collects $21.51 tax on elec, then I Pay Arizona .01/mile = $120 (milage tax) I then spend the money I saved ($2,600 -$120- $326) $2,154 on the local economy and Arizona collects $133.36 in sales tax(6.6%). Twenty-six hundred dollars spent generates $274.89 for Arizona ($21.51 +$120.00 + $133.36). Arizona gets almost twice the tax on my Leaf vs my Suburban.
Have an opinion?Join the conversation!