How does a 3 cent per mile tax on your electric car sound?

Photo above – some drivers may feel prickly about the new 3 cent per mile tax on electric cars.

Politicians have pivoted from saving the planet to saving the electric companies. And saving themselves. The United Kingdom is implementing a new 3 cent per mile tax/tariff/surcharge on all electric cars, to help make ends meet. (see link below)

The reason? Not enough people are driving gasoline powered cars. And they’re not taking long enough trips. Therefore, gasoline taxes are falling short. And electricity demand is soaring into dangerously high/brownout levels. Politicians say the only solution is higher taxes on EVs.

3 cents a mile doesn’t sound like much. But If this was a gasoline car which got 25 mpg, then the tax would be 3 cents times 25 miles, which equals 75 cents per gallon. Do you get the picture now? People would go bonkers if their gas tax went up 75 cents a gallon. Any US President – if he did this – would see his popularity circle the drain. It could be worse than eggs, bread, and milk inflation combined.

Some people will be okay with signing up for the new EV tax. Actually, they won’t have choice when it becomes law, but some people will actually cheer. They will be happy to have a government GPS-style tracking device attached to their car, which calculates how far they drove that day, and sends the total to Secretary of the Department of EV taxation, to be totaled for a monthly billing statement. Or possibly direct payroll deduction? Who wants to find out at the end of the year that they owe a thousand dollars in Tesla mileage taxes, but don't have the money to pay it? That’s why we have federal income tax withholding in the first place – nobody could afford to pay income tax if they didn’t take it away before we even saw it.

The onboard EV mileage snooping device could earn it’s keep doing other things too. Are you driving too fast? Failed to come to a complete halt at a red light? In a dangerous part of town after midnight, known to be frequented by people buying narcotics? At a local motel at 1pm? If your spouse has a clever attorney, that info could be subpoenaed as part of a divorce filing, no? There is no right to privacy when driving your car. Cameras are everywhere, already.

Some killjoy is sure to point out the obvious. If you want to collect an extra thousand bucks a year from everyone who bought an EV, just tack it onto the sticker price. Right where everyone can see it while negotiating their purchase. Don’t slice it into micro-thin 3 cent per mile wafers and hope that nobody notices.

And in the meantime, start building more electric plants, okay?

I’m just sayin’ . . .

Voices: Reeves’s stupid tax on EVs will drive even us greenies back to petrol

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SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

The UK is not implementing a mileage tax on EVs. This is one of several tax raising ideas being discussed in the media prior to the annual budget statement in three weeks time. Unfortunately our largely conservative press likes to present lurid hypotheticals as though they are already fact.

The issue is that a tax escalator on fuel has been frozen since 2011 and it is apparently politically impossible to.unfreeze it so that tax revenues meet the cost of road maintenance. As people generally like roads and not damaging their axles in pot holes, an alternative source of revenue is now an imperative.

Other suggestions include a tax to reflect the weight of the vehicle (a proxy for the damage it causes to the road surface) which coincidentally would disproportionately affect EVs.

If legislation were enacted to require GPS tracking, it would be strictly limited to data gathering for tax purposes only. Our very strict data protection laws make it impossible to expand use in the way you suggest.

Avectoijesuismoi · 36-40

@SunshineGirl I wouldn't have it fitted end of story, nobody has the right to demand a snooping device it is an invasion of privacy. Same as demanding a CCTV camera in my car or bedroom that somebody else has the access to the data.

meJess · F

@SunshineGirl if road tax and fuel duty were actually spent on roads there wouldn’t be a problem with potholes etc

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@SunshineGirl i included the link, which makes it clear this is (yet another) proposal by some political faction.

i believe voters are more likely to make informed choices, and/or reach out to their officials, after encountering debate about policy in social media.

Avectoijesuismoi · 36-40

@meJess exactly and where is the road tax from all those irritating bicycles that are on the road as well. If they use the roads they should pay the same as anyone who drives a car and they should be fined for committing traffic violations or offences and should equally have to have some form of insurance to be on the roads too.

Avectoijesuismoi · 36-40

@SusanInFlorida I have a suggestion stop squandering money on useless projects, and start using fuel duty, tax collected of insurance for cars, tolls on roads, vehicle licencing tax, sales tax collected on automobiles solely for maintaining and upgrading roads, start making bicycles pay an amount to be on the road, fine them for traffic violations the same as motorists and make them have insurance to be on the road you will get some more revenue from the tax for licencing and also sales tax on bicycle purchases and also on the tax on the insurance.

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@SusanInFlorida I admire your optimism. Unfortunately the level of debate in Britain has degenerated to "we demand first rate services but someone else should pay for them".

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@meJess They are, along with a load more cash redirected from general income and local taxation. As I pointed put in my original post, the problem is that these taxes have remained frozen over the past 14 years and have failed to keep pace with inflation and more intensive road usage.

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@Avectoijesuismoi Translation: "I don't like bikes".

Bikes do not require the same hi-spec surfacing as cars and do not damage that surface, pollute the environment, or present the same dangers to human health and safety. Most UK roads are built over older rights of way that were being used by pedestrians and non-motorised transport for centuries before the invention of the internal combustion engine. It is entirely right that motorists should pay for services that they alone benefit from. The issue is not waste or misappropriation of taxation. The issue is an extremely powerful car lobby that pressures parliament into favouring motorists over cyclists, pedestrians, and public transport users.

Why not tax children for walking to school while you are on your high horse?

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