States Adding Extra Tax On Hybrid, Electric And Natural Gas Powered Cars To Pay For Highway Maintenance

Posted by Milton Recht:

From Bloomberg, "Losing Revenue From Hybrids Prompts States to Hit Owners" by Alison Vekshin:

Hybrid and electric cars are sparing the environment. Critics say they’re hurting the roads.

The popularity of these fuel-efficient vehicles is being blamed for a drop in gasoline taxes that pay for local highway and bridge maintenance, with three states enacting rules to make up the losses with added fees on the cars and at least five others weighing similar legislation.***"The intent is that people who use the roads pay for them," said Arizona state Senator Steve Farley, a Democrat from Tucson who wrote a bill to tax electric cars. "Just because we have somebody who is getting out of doing it because they have an alternative form of fuel, that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t pay for the roads."***Fuel taxes provide close to 40 percent of state revenue for highways, according to a 2012 report by the Denver-based National Conference of State Legislatures.

“Yet these revenues have not kept pace with needs...."