this post was submitted on 20 May 2026
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they want you trapped in the fossil fuel death spiral
its like the coal thing in west virginia they held on to it till thier last dying breath, except its now country wide but with OIL.
Fuel taxes pay for roads. If you don't buy fuel you don't help pay for roads to drive your EV on.
End gasoline and oil subsidies by taxpayers and put them into the road budget.
EVs already pay electricity tax when they charge. We don’t need to double tax EV ownership.
If only other types of taxes could be used to pay for roads... But alas, only gas taxes can be used for that. Entirely different monetary system, that. Roads need gas money and regular money just won't do.
Other types of taxes are exactly what this article is about. A flat tax for EV owners is their proposed solution to the problem. Sure, other options exist, but people are commenting like this is an insane idea and it's pretty vanilla.
The proposed EV tax would require almost 20k miles a year in order to break even if you compared a 24 mile/g ICE vehicle. That's what is stupid about the entire thing. there is a super obvious vendetta and it isn't to supplement the tax system. How many people put 20k miles on their vehicle a year? I know I'm on the lower end, but I barely got 3k miles over the last 2 years because my car doesn't have to leave my house much. Back when I had to commute 30 minutes 5 days a week for work, I would do maybe 10k per year. The 24m/g is a the low end as well. Most consumer ICE vehicles are even more fuel efficient than that, with the US national average according to the EPA being 27.1 miles per gallon across all manufacturers in 2023 and that raising to 28.1 by 2025.
With the national annual mileage average being at 13,474 miles (per the federal highway administration). Why should an EV be forced to pay a flat rate that is the equivalent of 22,907.6 miles for an ICE vehicle(assuming national averages). That's nearly double the price of it's ice counterpart which doesn't use a flat rate.
If they were serious about this supplementing the system, it would be based off mileage, since all vehicles require yearly registration with mileage anyway. In my eyes this is clearly intended to push people away from EV's.
When Washington state used to do emissions testing we would take our cars through a place every 2 years where they put test equipment on it. If they could afford to run that whole operation I really don't see why it wouldn't work to have electric cars stop at a licensing office once a year for an odometer reading, and base the elecric car fee on the mileage. So simple. There's no excuse at all for charging all EV drivers the same flat fee no matter how much (or little) we drive. For me the annual fee is twice as much as the gas tax I would pay if I drove a hybrid. That kind of sloppiness is unconscionable.
edit: emissions testing was every 2 years not every year.
Yes that system would work but I'm not sure how you arrived at the conclusion that "inspect every EV in the country" is simpler than "flat tax on EVs". Running inspections at that scale seems multiple orders of magnitude more complex than a one time fee.
Charging a flat gas tax would be simpler than metering every gallon of gasoline sold, but it wouldn't be fair, and we don't do that. So why should we do it for EVs?
Well the article is about the federal government so your state laws are not the subject of the discussion at hand.
You said it was simple to collect odometer readings from all EVs. I disagree. I think that's the most labor intensive solution we could come up with.
We meter every gallon of gas sold because that's an easy thing to do at the point of sale. The gas station already tracks how much fuel you're buying so they know how much to charge you which means there is no extra work required for anyone. You could say the same for DC fast charging an EV but using any other power source would require additional work by someone that does not currently have to happen. That adds complexity and cost to the proposed solution that is not necessary.
I don't think it would be all that much more effort, to be honest.
All states require vehicle registration and it would just be supplying the current odometer reading at point of annual registration, and comparing it to a list of mileages to determine cost.
Now don't take me wrong, that list can be as simple a base amount divided by how many miles it did, or it could be as complicated as breaking down every model vehicle and having a different fee for every model.
Data storage wise, it's just checking the previous odometer reading to the current odometer reading, both are still there. The difference is how much mileage you had.
human effort wise it's just an extra box for the registration form
Honestly, there's an argument that it would be easier to have that system than the current system that we have for gas tax. Since the gas tax system is required at every single pump out there every time you fill where the mile-based odometer reading would only be town offices/bmv as a yearly thing
I am 100% certain my state doesn't keep track of mileage, even superficially, because I have never looked at my odometer for any paperwork reasons.
Registration yes, mileage no, and even emission testing varies by county/city.
I didn't realize there was states out there that didn't require mileage on their registration. I've never been in one that didn't. I know there was some that don't require mileage if the vehicle's older than 10 years old, but I didn't realize there was some that just straight out didn't.
regardless it's a nuisance, if you're still doing an annual registration, that system still works. You just supply your mileage when you register.
Oregon has a pay-per-mile system that would be more fair, IMO. Not sure if they still have it but at one point, they let you choose between having a tracker or just self-reporting your mileage. Makes sense if you use the road less, you should pay less and vice-versa.
Flat tax just spreads the estimated additional wear and cost around to everyone, like going out to dinner with a group and splitting the bill evenly vs just paying for what you ordered. I’d rather just pay for what I ordered.
14,500 miles driven here mostly for work and family. Even if it was 5 cents a mile that'd be $700+ in taxes a year just to operate a vehicle. What's really funny is how dependent our American cities are on cars, you're stuck needing one, but eventually you won't afford one due to taxes.
You’re right, this is why what we really need to do is tax the rich and make them pay their fair share while also moving off a car-dependent infrastructure.
More fair would be to pay for road wear and tear. Bigger cars do more damage to roads, and semis do exponentially more. Drop the gas tax and charge per mile scaled to the weight of your half loaded vehicle.
As much of a pain in the ass, that would be to implement, I agree. I do believe that vehicle weight has some contributing factors.
Plus, moving it to the odometer system would remove the necessity of having a privatized company manage it(hence lowering complexity and cost from that company) and it would then be run by a government service
You should see the damage farm equipment causes.
I pay my EV fee ($175 every year) even tho I barely drive, which is why I got an EV (old car needed to be replaced anyway). In the last year prior to getting an EV, I filled up my 10-gallon tank maybe four times. At 18 cents per gallon I probably paid $8 toward road repair via gas taxes, so I’m paying way way way more now. Farm equipment doesn't pay shit to fix the copious damages they cause going between their fields, since most of their gas use isn't on the roads and many large farms have their own fuel pumps and buy bulk.
I like your proposal, but I’d add a HUGE flat fee to large farm equipment, or just entirely ban it from paved roads, where it very specifically is not meant to be.
“fair” is often ascribed to pay as you go (and flat taxes) flat taxes, but they are both biased toward working people. Add road maintenance budget to progressive income tax and make rich people pay a bigger share. they can afford it.
Oh agreed I’m all for making the rich pay their fair share. If they did maybe this wouldn’t even be a topic worth much discussion
pay as you go and flat taxes are biased toward working people. Add this to progressive income tax and make rich people pay a bigger share. they can afford it.
That's a great idea that I fully support. Unfortunately, you and I both know it will never happen.
I own an EV and already pay an extra road tax for having an EV to my state, on top of more for tires, more for insurance, more for repairs, and more for public fast charging thanks to the government’s failure to build up charging infrastructure at a decent pace. Why should I pay another tax to the federal government?
This is a whole different argument that I never really mentioned, but that is correct. This is a federal tax, meaning it would stack on top of any type of state tax.
The "if things weren't insane right now" answer is that state taxes don't directly go to support the federal highway system, that's funded through things like gas tax as well. The current real answer is "fuck you and your tamed lightning car, liberal"
Kinda figured it was something like that, in both cases lol
Duh, the issue here is it's a flat rate. It should just be calculated by mileage driven.
You could do that but it's considerably more complicated than a flat tax. I would much rather pay a flat fee to not have to deal with inspections and/or tracking mileage.
Presumably your car has an annual safety inspection. The inspection could include writing down your milage, right? I'm pretty sure there are already laws against tampering with your odometer...
Yeah, unfortunately most states don't have a yearly inspection. There's registration, but outside of the New England area and select western states, there's no real inspection requirements.
It was really surreal going to Florida for the first time and seeing people driving around with bumpers hanging off their vehicle and seeing my aunt driving around with tires so bald that I was surprised it could grip the road
No, there are no annual safety inspections. Some states do emissions tests but mine does not and EVs would obviously be excluded from those anyway.
I'm so sorry. It must be terrifying knowing how many of your fellow drivers are zipping around with worn brake pads or broken turn signals. 😬
Only 14/50 US states do safety inspections. Wheels fly off and hit someone every fucking day. Because freedom.
Are there no vehicle taxes in the US?
It’s the US we get taxed on everything, it just isn’t always obvious.
You pay to renew your vehicle registration. At which time you may also have to get smog tested, it's not every year.
Fuel tax only pays 25% of the cost of roads.