General Motors Voices Opposition to Green Car Tax
The debate on taxing hybrid owners to help recover lost gas taxes has hit the state of Michigan, home of the U.S. auto industry.
One of America’s big three, General Motors, is voicing its opposition of a tax on electric and hybrid vehicles, stating that it’s not fair to the consumer or the manufacturers and suppliers of these eco-friendly vehicles. States across America are looking for ways to recover the lost gas taxes from hybrid and electric vehicle owners, tax money that goes towards fixing state roads.
SEE ALSO: States Seek to Tax Hybrid Owners to Recover Lost Gas Taxes
Brian O’Connell, regional director of state government relations for GM believes even a $75 annual fee on green cars could slow market growth in an industry that is still in its infancy. Last year, there were a total of 2,663 electric vehicles and 7,669 hybrids registered in the state of Michigan, and O’Connell agrees with the belief that a tax would be hypocritical. The government is asking automakers to produce more fuel efficient vehicles and at the same time, looking to tax those that own them.
[Source: Automotive News]
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Jason Siu began his career in automotive journalism in 2003 with Modified Magazine, a property previously held by VerticalScope. As the West Coast Editor, he played a pivotal role while also extending his expertise to Modified Luxury & Exotics and Modified Mustangs. Beyond his editorial work, Jason authored two notable Cartech books. His tenure at AutoGuide.com saw him immersed in the daily news cycle, yet his passion for hands-on evaluation led him to focus on testing and product reviews, offering well-rounded recommendations to AutoGuide readers. Currently, as the Content Director for VerticalScope, Jason spearheads the content strategy for an array of online publications, a role that has him at the helm of ensuring quality and consistency across the board.
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This is a real issue for states. Maybe what they should do is drop the gas tax entirely and tax us on our annual mileage we drive and weight of the vehicle. I know this won't help hybrids and alternative fuel vehicles, but in the end it would be fairer to the owners of light weight cars that aren't driven very far vs. the SUV monsters driven a long ways each year. While we're at it, drop all tax incentives and subsidies to carbon based fuels. Worldwide, these fuels get close to half a trillion dollars in corporate welfare.
Some state license plates fees are based on weight of the vehicles. States should have seen this coming 10 years ago but ignored it. They just need to trim the waste in their spending and there would be no issues. Tax by mileage would be unfair to some businesses. Such as taxis now buying Prius to save money. And some hybrids only run for about 15 miles on electric but some have to be charged at home where they pay taxes on the power they use. Having the government make cars get better mileage and then the states try and tax those cars could generate some new laws and lawsuits to stop the penalty tax on those cars. If they are selective on the cars being taxed, then those cars sales will drop and there will be plenty of loosers.