Before you squawk, I’ve advocated for ending the state’s gasoline tax. Gone. I got pushback from Libertarians and Republicans, but I’m still a fan of the idea. Having said that, there is a growing siren song in some states for mileage taxes.
If you like to rob people, it is a great idea: taxes, mileage taxes, it’s all theft.
The vehicle mileage tax is a response to the Democrat idea that we should all be driving EVs or not driving at all. Democrats also like to hike fuel taxes ‘cuz reasons, but the growing fleet of climate-killing, extra-heavy-road-wearing EVs don’t pay it. The idea is to shift to a per-mile tax that accurately represents wear and use for infrastructure upkeep.
If that’s where we are headed, I have some conditions. Much like my belief that EV users should only be able to charge their vehicles with renewable power, only EVs should have to pay the mileage tax. This is not unreasonable because no one is ever going to end the motor fuel taxes, not even Republicans and Libertarians.
So have at it. Pass a mileage TAX on EVs. They weigh a lot more and cause a lot more road wear. While you’re at it, might I suggest a separate carbon tax paid annually when drivers register their vehicles to cover the end-of-life cost to manage the waste-stream burden of a vehicle sized used up lithium pack? Aside from the front-end carbon footprint of mining, milling, moving, and manufacturing costs (plus local environmental damage), what to do with the discarded heart of your EV corpse represents a significant ecological burden/hazard.
Wait. We also need “risk of EV fire” fees. When those things burn, Fire Departments have no easy way to extinguish them. You’ve more or less banned the foam they used to use, so we’re left with containment while the EV emits insane amounts of crap into the air from burning plastic, fabric, electronics, metal, and – oh yeah, the rare earth metals melting down and exhausting into the biosphere from the battery pack.
Maybe another fee for emissions insurance that can launder money through carbon-offset schemes that promise to plant trees along the equator, by which they mean “might cut fewer of them down.”
While we continue to ignore or avoid similar environmental threats created by solar panels, if you can get ahead of this now, you can have a healthy set aside to rob blindly to balance other irresponsible acts of budget abuse while pretending you planned ahead.
