Thanks Murdoch- The higher registration fees for hybrids and electrics in Oregon are indeed ridiculous. Still, the $30 extra is a mere pittance compared to the nearly $3500 or so in tax credit and deductions available to hybrid and electric car purchasers. So when I saw the complaints about the $30 extra, I had to laugh, knowing about the purchase credits available. When you consider that Oregon's gasoline fuel tax is 24cents/gallon, that an average registered car might travel $10000 miles/year and average 20 miles/gallon, then in the biennial registration period an average car might pay $240 in fuel taxes, which according to Oregon Statutes, support roads. The hybrids would instead be paying $96 in fuel taxes over the same 2yr period at 50mpg and 10000miles/yr. The difference, $144, is certainly much greater than the $30 extra the state asks for in registration.
Now, since the GAS TAX money goes to "roads" per Oregon law, then it really makes better sense to tax based on "mileage" and "vehicle weight" instead of fuel consumption. While this sounds like an expensive proposition, consider that with each biennial reregistration of vehicles in Oregon a smog check is required at DEQ. While at DEQ, it would take ZERO extra time to have DEQ testing employees check the vehicle mileage AND vehicle weight. In fact, the weight could simply be the rated GVW for the vehicle. So, bottom line is that we could and perhaps should ditch the gas tax altogether if the intent is to fund roads. All the road tax could then be lumped into reregistration fees based on biennial mileage. The downside for this strategy for hybrids and electrics is that they would pay as much for "road taxes" as any other compact vehicle---likely MUCH MUCH MORE than their $60/biennium presently assessed plus the current 24cent/gallon fuel tax. So we should be careful what we wish for. The fairest way to assess should be based on miles traveled and vehicle weight if the money is to go to roads. This could be done with no added cost every 2 years as part of reregistration smog check. The reason this WILL NOT get done is that the State and the Feds both get gas taxes MONTHLY. This is a convenient recurring funding mechanism and more regular and stable than income, business or property taxes----while there would be a similar regularity and stability to the DEQ testing and increased registration based on mileage due to the randomness in when vehicle registrations expire, the TRANSITION from the current system to the new system would have to have a 2year notice to be fair. I.E. everyone would be told to save their fuel receipts ahead of the transition to be credited for fuel taxes paid during the biennium preceding one's first such assessment at DEQ. Wow...a whole new system---doubt the hybrid and electric owners would benefit from it, though. The fuel tax approach (including the $60/biennium) is much cheaper for them given their high MPG. So let's not feel sorry for the hybrid or electric owners who get great MPG, pay little fuel taxes (or NONE if electric!) and get a huge incentive tax credit on the vehicle itself. Besides, most of these people enjoy every minute in their cars and would've bought them regardless of tax credits and don't have a problem with the higher registration fee. They're only fighting for the principle---which is good. Myles Twete, Portland Or. -----Original Message----- From: murdoch [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, March 07, 2003 6:53 AM To: [email protected] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [email protected]; Bill Moore Subject: [biofuel] Oregon Road Tax Issues http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=57763 I hate to copy the whole article. I think I'll just put excerpts: Lawmakers want to ease hybrid car fee Ferrioli is sponsoring a bill that would reduce the registration fee for hybrid and electric vehicles from $60 per two years to $30 � the same as for comparable nonelectric vehicles. Another bill, sponsored by Sen. Ryan Deckert, D-Beaverton, would eliminate the registration fee for hybrid vehicles altogether. ------ Oregonians spend more than $10 million per day on foreign oil, Beaton said. �Do the math, and it�s something like $4 billion a year that I can call nothing more than a hemorrhage of the Oregon economy,� he said. -------------- Furthermore, singling out hybrids because they pay less than average for the use of roads seems arbitrary because many other cars easily exceed the state fuel-efficiency average of 19.2 miles per gallon, among them the Honda Civic, and the Volkswagen Beetle, Golf and Jetta, Hagerbaumer said. Instead, she suggested charging a fee for vehicles equipped with studded tires. Not doing so costs the state about $50 million per year � about 400 times more than the gas-tax revenue lost from fuel-efficient vehicles and hybrids. --------- Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> New Yahoo! Mail Plus. More flexibility. More control. More power. Get POP access, more storage, more filters, and more. http://us.click.yahoo.com/Hcb0iA/P.iFAA/46VHAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
