$250 Annual tax on EVs? How would that even work?? I'm a senior starting retirement soon

[lostnfound]

The budget bill that passed the House not only gets rid of incentives for buying EVs but I’ve read that it imposes a $250 federal tax, per year.
My new (purple) state already charges $200 per year on EVs, PLUS annual property tax on cars — which added up to $900 in my first year here.

So $450 in special EV taxes would compare to… maybe $120 per year I would be paying if I drove a gas vehicle?? (In semi-retirement i drive maybe 5,000 miles a year. At 60 cents a gallon fuel tax for a 25 mpg vehicle, that’s 200 gallon x 60 cents which should be 120.00 per year.). And the gas tax never paid for US oil wars, or poor public health due to pollutants, or climate change.

When i bought my tesla I thought i was doing a responsible thing to encourage electric car development. Figured I’d keep it for the rest of my life. It came with free charging for life at supercharger stations. Even though it was expensive, i figured the savings on fuel would help offset, and also the annual registration fees on EVs were only $20 or so instead of $70 — because they wanted to encourage EVs. Instead, IN RETIREMENT, I’ll be paying an extra $10,000 over 10 years just for owning a car whether i drive it or not?

I’m sick of having my financial plan destroyed by rightwing shifts in policy, PLUS living in an **** country that doesn’t care about the environment, basic humanity, decency, safety or women. A country that cares about guns, selfishness. My residential property taxes here which have been going up by $300 a year, went up by $1400 last year/ insurance has doubled. I did not plan on ever leaving, this was going to be where i retire.

I lost >$200K from the salt tax cap (long story) and if i quit work now I’d need Obamacare. It was there for my rightwing family member’s heart attacks, but it won’t be there when i need it. I’m too nice to people and try to do what I can to help. Time to toss the EV and get a gas-guzzling old car; and stop helping others. Time to be more selfish. No more paying for other people who can’t afford the basics. I’ve tried to look out for my tribe (friends and relatives) but some have just taken advantage of me.

Getting a gas-guzzling old car that doesn’t have a nice big navigation screen and hands-free keys is hard for me, though, because those 2 things have been super helpful for an old lady who gets easily lost and forgets where she puts her car keys.

Alternatively, i could turn on Tesla self-driving mode, thereby potentially accelerating my departure, and those friends and relatives can live happily ever after.

[HAB911]

1. I suspect the same to happen to roof-top solar

if they continue in this vein. It's a suicide cult.

[Woodwizard]

4. They are doing it now

Cutting the tax rebate after 2026. Unfortunately solar has become a loan scam with the big companies, Sunrun is a prime example selling loans. Glad I had mine installed in 2014 paid for itself in 7 years.

[HAB911]

11. I did 29 panels in 2017

and this year installed an additional 15 with battery backup. We were without power for 5 days with hurricane Milton. Had a generator but there was no gas within driving distance for those five days, then the power company rammed through a shift of costs from big business to homeowners, so I went whole hog. My bill is now $22/mo all of which are connection fees. All told, in for about ~$40k which I was lucky enough to pay cash.

[Woodwizard]

12. I did 9KW

in 2014, added another 4 KW after installing heat pumps it is grid tied, I do have a 500 watt system for 1 kwh of batteries mainly for lighting and running computers when the power goes out.

Still break out a generator for the fridge and freezer and our water pump when the power goes out, which for the last few years has only been a day or two at a time.

[HAB911]

13. I went whole house

sits between the meter and the original house distribution panel with 12kw of battery. we have atrocious power that takes hits all the time as they switch between power plants. over the years this caused me to have APC UPS on my computers and entertainment equipment. I'm now removing those as I see no interruptions ever as the batteries take the hit.

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

2. From what I have read

The $250 is to be collected by the State DMV's or whoever registers vehicles for use on road maintenance. its supposed to make up for the loss in gas tax revenue which mainly goes to road maintenance. The increase of EV's and more fuel efficient vehicles are causing a decline of gas tax revenues. And EV's and hybrids typically cause more road deterioration due to their heavy weight.

Now whether the $250 in addition to any state add on's for EV's is proportional or not is up for debate. My back of the hand calculations says its not and this will cause EV owners to pay far more into road revenue than the average gas car driver.

[lostnfound]

5. Easy to explain away any pain inflicted on the public. Meanwhile, big data centers are getting tax breaks

they are talking about increasing our residential utility bills to pay in advance for big data center electricity requirements
Because corporate.

[sl8]

7. My back-of-envelope calculation agrees.

The federal gasoline tax is $0.183/gal., as of July 2024 (diesel is higher). The owner of a gasoline powered car would need to buy ~ 1,366 gallons of gas per year to pay $250 tax/year. The average annual gasoline use in the US is much closer to 500 gal./year (most gasoline use in the US is for cars/SUVs/light trucks):

https://afdc.energy.gov/data/10308

[bucolic_frolic]

3. The bold outsized initial pile-ons will guarantee blowback at some point.

Deregistering 2nd and 3rd vehicles will become common.

And why should Uber riders get away without a fee? How about $10 per ride? And WAYMO, self-driven even more.

[doc03]

6. Ohio already charges $100 for hybrids and $200 for EVs. That would be a total of $450

total per year. I believe our neighbors in WV pay $250 for and EV and also personnel property tax of several hundred dollars.
It would cost a thousand dollars a year just to own an EV.

[SheltieLover]

8. TN is planning a $400 annual fee for evs.

Hell, I don't drive that much!

[MichMan]

9. "I lost $200K from the salt tax cap (long story)"

Assuming you have a tax rate of 15%, that means you have paid $1.4 million in property taxes since the SALT cap was instututed in 2017?

That is $200,000 per year. In state and local taxes alone.

[sinkingfeeling]

10. Norway is 70% to their goal of total EVs.

[MichMan]

14. I believe Norway taxes ICE vehicles nearly 100% and waives the tax on EV

I'm sure if the US had a 100% tax on ICE vehicles, most people would choose an EV, compared to paying a $50k tax on a $50k vehicle.

Don't see any US politician proposing that anytime soon.