This has EV owners (who are so often upper middle class and people considered “rich”) Very Upset
Illinois might start charging $1,000 per year to own an electric vehicle: ‘It’s outrageous’
A proposed hike in Illinois’ annual registration fee for electric vehicles, from $17.50 to $1,000, is being called unfair by current EV owners, and a sales disincentive by manufacturers — just as the new technology is beginning to gain broader traction.
“It’s outrageous,†said Nicoletta Skarlatos, 56, of Chicago, who bought a Tesla Model S five years ago. “I thought Illinois was progressive and would want to encourage EV ownership.â€
Aimed at raising money to make overdue road improvements across Illinois, the proposed legislation would also more than double the state’s gas tax to 44 cents a gallon and raise the registration fee for standard vehicles to $148, from $98, among other elements.
But the kicker is a nearly 60-fold increase in the electric vehicle registration fee — one that is sure to cause sticker shock across a nascent segment of the auto industry, which has depended on government incentives to entice early adopters.
This does not cover hybrids, both regular and plug-in
The justification for the dramatic hike? Electric vehicles don’t provide the state with any gas tax revenue.
“There’s definitely a push, because electric vehicles don’t pay any gas taxes,†said Pete Sander, president of the Illinois Automobile Dealers Association.
Realistically, it wouldn’t raise all that much, since there aren’t that many pure EV vehicles out there, but, more people are purchasing them (for the life of me, can’t figure out why. Just seems too much of a pain in the behind). Remember, though, what we’ve seen over the past 10-15 years is a push to raise gas and other automobile taxes and fees because autos are getting much better fuel economy, so there was less revenue coming in to the treasuries. And much of the better gas mileage was due to government mandates on auto manufacturers. So, much is a problem caused by government solved by raising your taxes for saving money on gas used.
For Skarlatos, a self-employed software developer who bought her Tesla using $7,500 in federal incentives and $4,000 in state incentives, the idea of suddenly having to pay a $1,000 registration fee to own an electric vehicle in Illinois is “unfair,†and would have dissuaded her from an environmentally motivated purchase. The $11,500 in incentives, she said, persuaded her to take the plunge.
If you have to offer a big tax incentive to get people to purchase, perhaps the product isn’t that great.
