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