EV State User Fees

Your state probably already has a tax specifically for electric vehicles. Ohio for example has a tax of $225/year for BEVs. A paltry sum when you consider what road tax would be on equivalent gasoline.

For example an ICE driver getting 19mpg driving 24,000 mile/yr would use 1263 gallons of gasoline. Ohio tax per gallon is $0.385 and Federal is $0.184 for a total $0.569/gallon. So.. the ICE driver pays $718.65/year in road tax.

Many states are looking to raise BEV tax. The main reason? The cost of building and maintaining roads is going up as rapidly as the price of oil. States spend nearly 80% of their transportation budget on pavement. What is the most expensive ingredient in pavement? Bitumin or oil (PG64-22 predominantly in the midwest).

Consider maintaining your home driveway, it costs thousands to replace it when needed. Roads require much more substantial pavement to hold up to truck traffic, often 12" or more thick. And your typical 6 lane freeway is 60' wide in each direction and of course endless miles long. That is a LOT of pavement to maintain. And the desire is to maintain it in a smooth condition which means more frequent paving.

So do you think BEV user taxes should be increased to more align with gasoline user taxes? Should they be a flat fee or should it be use based? Should the tax remain the same or even be eliminated?