Re: [EVDL] EV Road Taxes
Tires are an interesting angle, since they are the "instrument" of road
damage and for the reasons Joseph mentions. I think we've generated a
lot of good discussion and ideas.
1. Tax the fuel (daily?)
2. Tax the plate (yearly - this would be weight/odo reading)
3. Tax the vehicle (1x, upfront)
4. Tax the tires (dependant on mileage/performance)
Anything I missed? Of course it could be split up amoung all of these,
though that might make an administrative/legislative nightmare, and I'm
all about making sure overhead doesn't swallow up income.
Anybody up for some research (or know international types?). I'm not
for reinventing the wheel (just the vehicle ;-), so I'm a big proponent
of looking about at how other countries do it.
As an EV owner, you feel like you're getting off scott free, right up
until you have to replace shocks/struts/tie rods etc, because you
weren't able to avoid that
[email protected]#
[email protected]#!% pothole that hasn't been patched all
summer!
So believe it or not, as a small, lightweight EV owner (with superior
pothole-avoidance skilz) and bicyclist, I *want* to pay road
repair/maintenance taxes, at least on the local level.
Taking the lead means we have a good shot at determining implementation.
Especially when you go to a representative and say "We need and want to
be taxed -- here's an acceptable and fair way to do it"
[email protected]
-----Original Message-----
From:
[email protected] [mailto:
[email protected]] On
Behalf Of Joseph Ashwood
Sent: Thursday, September 30, 2010 10:11 PM
To: Electric Vehicle Discussion List
Subject: Re: [EVDL] EV Road Taxes
Replying to a bunch all at once.
Yes the road taxes have to be replaced.
Adding anything to the upfront cost simply won't work. As has been
pointed
out repeatedly, that is a perfect way to make sure no one will buy them.
> odometer readings could be taken as well and fees
> based on miles driven.
Also a perfectly good reason to disconnect your odometer, at least
partially.
Taxing the electricity won't work, this creates another disincentive,
and
had major problems with people not paying the taxes.
Toll roads don't work well, making them the only pathway is politically
impossible.
The truth is that it takes taxing some disposable quantity, that can
only be
replaced through some authoritative channel. The disposable nature of
the
gasoline and the inability to make it at home has made it roughly ideal.
Electricity doesn't work because of the previously noted ability to
generate
it in locations that aren't taxable.
The only solution I see is the tires. Tires have the advantage that they
are
extremely difficult to make in untaxable ways. They have additional
advantages in that the poor purchase tires far less frequently than the
rich, with tires targeted at the poor rated at up to 100,000 miles,
while
high performance vehicles targeted at the rich may last as little as
3000
miles, in addition to the poor tires costing less than the rich tires so
a
percentage works well. Additionally, tire life is affected by vehicle
weight
in roughly the same way as the underlying roadway.
That's not to say that a tire tax is ideal. The simple fact that tires
last
so much longer than gasoline means a more significant appearance to the
average person. Using the numbers posted by someone else, a 100,000 mile
set
of tires would have to supply about $1500. Since the 100,000 mile tires
are
currently only about $500 a set this would be a 300% tax. I can't see
most
people being willing to pay that steep of a tax.
I don't think "just tax X" is going to be the reasonable solution. It is
a
complex problem that requries a sophisticated solution, nothing simple
is
likely to be acceptable to a broad enough range of people.
Joe
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