States depend on taxes charged at the fuel pump for highway funding. But what if a vehicle “never sets foot” near a fuel pump? EVs, or electric vehicles, don’t pump gas or diesel, so roughly 60% of U.S. states are figuring out the need for an electric vehicle tax. Pennsylvania already has one, but proposed legislative changes could make Keystone State EV owners pay the biggest tax in the country.
Electric vehicle tax—just pay a big chunk every year
If you drive an EV with a Pennsylvania registration, you’re already required to send a report to the state every month. Fill out the form, calculate how much tax you owe, send a check. Trouble is, some EV owners in the state either don’t comply, or simply don’t know of the requirement. So a new Senate bill would change that.
If the bill passes and is signed into law, Pennsylvania EV owners would see a different electric vehicle tax system. No more monthly reports. The bill would simply tack on an additional fee to EV registrations, to the tune of $290. That’s the rate highest in the U.S. As of March 2023, there were 43,725 electric vehicles registered in Pennsylvania—up from 9,784 in 2019.
##RVT1135b
Will this be enough?
I say double it and then at the end of the year, the State can simply refund each EV driver’s share from what ever is left over. Seems fair.
Cancel, do you honestly believe any state will “refund” ANYTHING”?
LOL. Not a chance. Not even a remote possibility. I’m sure it would be well spent elsewhere tho. 🤪😜
Maybe in the state of LaLa Land ! 🤑
We live in “Pennsultucky” Did I spell it right? Since I live here I have the right to say that. Just ask any of our legislators what that means.
Since the EV owners do pay a fuel tax used for maintaining the highways and infrastructure , it’s only fair that they make up for it. Personally I feel that the tax should be assessed on the mileage driven, not an across the board amount. It would be easy for the state to do since we have to enter the mileage on the odometer when renewing registration.
The EV owners already get a tax credit from the Fed’s.
Pa has one of the highest overall fuel taxes in the country.
I’m now waiting for the EV owners to dispute this.
We live in Pa. and that would mean the “idiots” would have to read one more line item. They are so overtaxed as it is now.
Having to send in a report every month would be enough to keep me from buying an EV.
I’m with you on that KellyR. Sheesh. Next they will have form for us to fill out if we eat beef more than once per week.
They will have to put an extra line on the form. A good cut of beef at Outback is much more expensive than a hamburger at McDonalds and you probably get more miles per ounce. (I used to be a State employee so I know about gov’t forms – they used monkeys to create them – but they did have college degrees.).
I have a 4 year college degree- Psych major- put myself thru being a plumber and it just stuck. Having a degree in anything does not insure having any common sense-“mother’s wit” as my parents called it
So. In PA the gas tax rate is 56.7¢/gal.
If an ICE powered car averages 28 miles/gallon that = 2.6¢/mile.
At the rate they’re going to charge EVs, the EV would be driving 14,097/miles a year.
Drive less, overpaying. Drive more, getting a gift.
Better would be a fixed per mile rate applied to all vehicles, ICE or EV, as with ICE gas mileage varies and those with poorer mileage end up paying more, and those with better mileage pay less.
Damage to roads is a function of # or cars and miles driven, not how much gas the vehicle does or does not use.
Charging by the mile is much fairer and just as easy to calculate at vehicle registration.
Willing to bet if the State adopted a mileage charge, they will not drop the per gallon fuel tax.
Taxes never go away. Our city put in our first freeway about 20 years ago. They proposed a “temporary” fuel tax addition to we taxpayers at the time. It was to help pay for the freeway. We foolishly agreed. Here we are 20 years later and guess what? Yup, the tax is still here.
Damage to roads could also be poor quality of materials. Plus PennDot can’t bid a job that isn’t over run..
I own a PHEV and think this is close to fair, if a little high. Pennsylvania charges a fuel tax of $0.576 per gallon. Just playing with some numbers, if I drive a gas vehicle 12,000 miles/year and get 25 mpg, that works out to paying $276.48 in taxes at the pump. In all honesty, I am not allowing for the taxes I pay for electricity nor the fact that I haven’t own a car that got less than 40mpg in over a decade but the conversation needs to start somewhere.
Thank you, Russ and Tina! I understand the tax, but I wonder how accepting the owners of electric vehicles are of it? Further, I wonder how much larger it might get as roads and bridges need repair or building? 😉
A tax on mileage driven? How does one know if the miles driven were in state or out?
Could be quite a difference depending….
GPS locating is in the future. Same for speed monitoring and determination.
Watch for it…
Alabama’s EV surcharge is $400 per year. Hybrid surcharge is $100 per year.
I thought the Keystone State also has the highest state fuel tax. Yes, the state that at one time claimed they’d eliminate the toll charges once the cost of construction was paid off. Instead, it’s turned into a cash cow. It’s been over 30 years since I was forced to refuel there.
Gas tax is .57 per gallon, diesel is .74 per gallon and we probably have the highest tolls on the turnpike. Our politicians are thieves and they continue to elect them.
I live in SE Pa. and why shouldn’t they pay at the same rate as I do when I fill up with gas or diesel. The old saying “the check is in the mail” applies here. If you do registration renewal billing everyone is paying for the use of our roads. Only fair.
We live in OH and our license plate renewal is an additional $200 over the regular fee for our EV.
Yeah, the Commonwealth of Virginia tacks on an additional $116.49 per year to the registration fees for EVs.
Politicians never seem to run out of ways to reach deep into citizens’ pockets.
The irony of PA’s proposal is that PA already has (among the highest) fuel taxes in the nation, and — in my experience — some of the absolute worst road maintenance. When travelling in the Northeast we’ll usually route around PA just on general principle.
After traveling in our motorhome with towed from California to visit our son in Pennsylvania we had our Rand McNally GPS set to avoid toll roads. Nevertheless, we still got caught on two short unavoidable sections of Turnpike. They no longer have toll takers. Received two bills in the mail for the toll and a non-payment fee. Horrible, narrow, twisty roads off the Turnpike. I will never visit PA again.