SC Lawmakers Considering New Fee for Hybrid & Electric Vehicles

[Capt Worley PE]

Columbia, SC (WLTX) South Carolina lawmakers are considering adding a new fee to hybrid and electric vehicles to make sure they're paying their share of maintaining roads.

The money to build and maintain roads comes almost entirely from the gas tax, and since hybrids and electric vehicles use so much less gas, their drivers pay much less in gas taxes than other drivers.

"They're not paying their share," says Bill Ross, executive director for the South Carolina Alliance to Fix Our Roads. "The same people that are commuting across the state, whether it's in an alternative vehicle or an electric vehicle or whatever, they're getting the same benefits as everybody else is and they're not paying for it."

What's unusual is that lawmakers are considering contradictory bills. One bill would offer a $1,000 state tax credit as an incentive to get people to buy hybrids and electric vehicles. But others would add new fees to those vehicles. Hybrid owners would have to pay an extra $60 per year and owners of electric vehicles would have to pay an extra $120.

Hybrid driver Eric Small says, "I do think that it's fair. If everyone drove a hybrid, they would have to tax us some other way because they wouldn't have the money coming out of people's pockets from the gas tax."

On top of getting less gas tax money from drivers of hybrids and electric vehicles, gas mileage for all vehicles is getting better, which means the state is collecting even less for roads.

The state Department of Revenue says the money the state got from fuel taxes went from $558 million in the 2011-12 budget year down to $536 million last year. And while the state is getting less and less from the gas tax, the SCDOT says it needs an additional $29 billion over the next 20 years for road and bridge construction and repairs.

http://www.wltx.com/news/article/263768/2/SC-Lawmakers-Considering-New-Fee-for-Hybrid--Electric-Vehicles

Talk about mixed messages.

 

[FLBuff PE]

Eliminate the gas tax, use toll roads. Not a popular idea, I know, but it would be more equitable. You use it (drive on the highway), you pay for it.

 

[Ble_PE]

^What about smaller, secondary roads, neighborhood roads, etc.?

 

[snickerd3]

^What about smaller, secondary roads, neighborhood roads, etc.?

which is why I think there was an idea out there of tracking peoples mileage and taxing accordingly....this would royally suck for me if it ever came to be.

 

[snickerd3]

i don't see the price of gas dropping if such an idea were implemented...sometimes I wish taxes weren't already included in the price so we could see the cost break out

 

[Road Guy]

a mileage tax with a factor for vehcile weight would be the most fair. But what happens is the feds get most of the money, then the state and they do a poor job of sharing with the locals, their needs to be a system (based on road miles per jurisdiction) so the locals can get their money back.. right now it all goes to washington and then sent back to the states. very little goes for local projects, and those that do get put into TE projects to build lighthouses in Tybee island and sidewalks and other bullshit

 

[Capt Worley PE]

The solution to that is to do like SC and have the state responsible for almost all of the roads.

 

[Road Guy]

the puppies are already out of the box for that one.... too many small time politicians want to control their own road network (& they should to some extent) if you have to wait on the state to do improvements your waiting a long time... by the time they actually get around to building something its over capacity cause it took to long to make the environmentalits happy..