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An Anonymous Coward writes in with an article from Vice.com.
A generous state tax break has helped make Georgia the number two state for electric vehicles, and made Atlanta the top market for the compact Nissan Leaf. Both the Leaf and the higher-end Tesla sedans are now common sights in and around metro Atlanta, where more than 10,500 are registered.
But this year, Georgia lawmakers needed to raise nearly $1 billion to patch up crumbling roads, highways, and bridges. So they are pulling the plug on that $5,000 tax credit — a move budget analysts say will contribute $66 million to the state's coffers in 2016 and nearly $190 million by 2020.
But it gets worse for electric vehicle (EV) boosters. Legislators are adding a $200-a-year annual fee for owners to offset the loss of gasoline taxes that drivers would otherwise pay to maintain roads.
The Economist has a breakdown of the current system of the tax credits and the expected economic impact of the changes.
(Score: 5, Informative) by gnuman on Sunday April 05 2015, @01:29AM
Proper road tax should incorporate two things,
1. initial capital costs, based on usage - this comes from property taxes (frontage) as well maybe mileage fees
2. actual road damage, which is 4th power of actual weight per axle.
You see, a cement truck with 40 tons of concrete or a semi with 40 tons created tremendously more damage on the roads than any normal car. For example, a bicycle, ALL the road damage in perpetuity is more than included in the sales tax, if the sales tax is more than 1%. But a cement truck with 10 tons per axle, creates about 10,000 more damage than a normal car. If they are charging $200/yr for road damage, than the semi and cement truck companies need to be charged $200,000+ per year per vehicle per 20k km. Fair is fair, right? But then you have truckers converting to natural gas which completely sidestep the infinitesimal costs they pay in gas costs.
Everyone is subsidizing heavy traffic on the roads.