Wash. considers annual flat fee for electric cars

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Drivers of electric cars may have left the gas pump behind, but there's one expense they may not be able to shake: paying to maintain the roads.

After years of urging residents to buy fuel-efficient cars and giving them tax breaks to do it, Washington state lawmakers are considering a measure to charge them a $100 annual fee — what would be the nation's first electric car fee.

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No matter WHAT you do, THEY will find a way to dig into your pocket

Yep, I will just keep my 20 year old van. Why make payments? Why pay extra fees? No thanks

reply to post by HomerinNC


$100?

That's it?

Oregon is considering $500+

I personally pay over $1,100 in gas tax on both of my cars, my Jeep alone I pay anywhere from 700-800 in gas tax. My smaller car a little less so, but still way more than $100.

Edit to the guy above me ... you pay WAY more than $100 for that 20 year old van. That van no doubt eats your wallet since most vans, let alone a 20 year old one, hardly get 15 mpg.

reply to post by HomerinNC


Breathing the radioactive air tax- the final frontier.

Originally posted by Rockpuck
Edit to the guy above me ... you pay WAY more than $100 for that 20 year old van. That van no doubt eats your wallet since most vans, let alone a 20 year old one, hardly get 15 mpg.

Might be true for a Van, but I had a 20 year old Isuzu pickup that got 27-35 MPG when I traded it in (big mistake, in retrospect)...

Gas milage hasn't really changed a whole lot overall...

reply to post by rogerstigers


Nope, it sure hasn't.. safety has though, and I'm told that's the main reason why some older cars that got good MPG, don't anymore. I doubt that, but what ever.

It is amazing how big a difference cash wise a big gas hog is to a little fuel efficient car. I compare my Dodge Nitro (Jeep Liberty with chrome and sport seats I'm retarded, but it was for some reason $10k less than the Jeep) that gets 17-20 MPG to my Scion xD (if anyone wants a brand new car with everything included for under 16k .. buy a Scion) it gets anywhere from 32-40 MPG depending on how I'm driving. Massive difference, the Dodge costs 2-3 times more to drive, and I fill up more often even though the tank is twice the size of the Scions.

I'd trade it in .. but it's an American car, and thus lost more than half it's value when I drove off the lot....

Originally posted by Rockpuck.

Edit to the guy above me ... you pay WAY more than $100 for that 20 year old van. That van no doubt eats your wallet since most vans, let alone a 20 year old one, hardly get 15 mpg.

edit on 4/23/2011 by Rockpuck because: (no reason given)

But look at the money I saved since paying it off 17 years ago. It adds up to way more than your gas savings with or without this BS extra tax.

reply to post by HomerinNC


Reading the thread do I take it that you don't pay what we call road tax here or road fund licence in the UK?

Currently we pay around $2.20 per litre ($8 or $9 a US gallon?) and on top of that I pay $638 a year for road tax. Some with larger engined cars pay as much as $3,500 a year in road tax. On top of that it has to be tested every year for roadworthiness - another $80.

It's time to say NO, NO, NO>.....no more extorting money from the people. No more taxes (which aren't legal anyway).

WA is quite stupid...won't deny it. It's no wonder so many businesses run away from this state. WA experiences a huge budget deficit every year (and it keeps getting bigger)...It's not just because they're fixing up the interstate highways or roads and don't have the money to make it. Do I really think they will be spending this money responsibly and exactly how they claim? Hell no...I don't. The only way this state knows how to fix their problems is by taxing people who are still employed. And they claim it's at 9.7 right now, probably more like 12