Utah and Oregon to impose road usage charges on electric vehicles because they don't pay gas taxes
Electric vehicles avoid paying the fuel charges included in the price of gas in some States in order to cover some of the costs of road repairs and construction.
Utah and Oregon realised that EV’s don’t buy gas and use roads – so, they have moved to compel the installation of GPS trackers in EV’s so they cab be billed for road usage.
From here (h/t Ranger77)
Nolte: Oregon, Utah Mandate GPS Trackers in Electric Vehicles to Tax Per Mile (breitbart.com)
“Oregon and Utah have mandated GPS trackers be added to every electric vehicle so they can be taxed by the mile. Michigan is next.”
Utah charges 34.5 cents per gallon
Oregon charges 38 cents
Oregon Department of Transportation : Current Fuel Tax Rates : Fuels Tax : State of Oregon
And Michigan 28.6 cents
Tax Rates for Motor Fuel and Alternative Fuel (michigan.gov)
Utah DoT states:
“You will pay [one cent] per mile, deducted from the prepaid wallet, up to the amount of the flat fee. Enrolling in Utah’s Road Usage Charge program gives you access to DriveSync® for Utah DOT, an app that makes your driving safer and more productive through trip tracking and driving reports.”
Breitbart comments:
“That nifty sounding DriveSync® app includes something called “Driving Coach“:
Utah DoT “The Driving Coach compiles information from Acceleration, Cornering, Speed and Braking events; and grades you with a score for each trip so you can see how you improve over time.”
“If you can’t see where this is headed, you haven’t been paying attention.”
“Now, I understand why state governments want to stop electric vehicle owners from skirting the taxes that maintain roads. Additionally, electric vehicles, due to the excess weight of their battery, do more damage to roads over time. What bothers me is the GPS system.
There is no valid reason to track vehicle mileage by way of GPS. It would be just as easy to track only mileage. But GPS tells the government where we are and where we have been, which is why the government mandates GPS instead of a simple mileage tracker.”
I wonder if the ability to shut off the EV is also I nthhe software!
Onwards
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What makes you think that newer vehicles (onstar) aren't already tracking you. Hell, that cellphone you carry already does a bang up job of it.
THIS IS WHERE A FLAT TAX WOULD BE APPROPRIATE. YES, THE DRIVERS OF EVs SHOULD PAY FOR ROADS SAME AS THOSE WHO USE GAS POWERED VEHICLES, BUT THEY SHOULD NEVER BE TRACKED! MAYBE PAYING A FLAT TAX IN ADVANCE WITH YEARLY REGISTRATION FEES WOULD BE APPROPRIATE.