Florida lawmakers have restarted a move to impose annual registration fees on electric vehicles amid pushback over the proposed amount.
The Senate Transportation Committee on Wednesday backed a proposal (SB 28) that would require electric-vehicle owners to pay annual an annual $200 registration fee (or license tax) to try to offset anticipated losses in gas-tax dollars as more people convert to electric and hybrid vehicles.
Annual fees of $50 a year would be imposed on plug-in hybrids that use a combination of electricity and gas and $25 fees would be imposed on electric motorcycles.
Bill sponsor Ed Hooper, R-Clearwater, called the proposal an issue of “fairness” for everyone who uses the state’s road system. He said the fee structure is based on figures from the Electric Drive Transportation Association.
The association projects motorists who drive 10,000 miles a year pay about $190 a year in federal, state and local gas taxes, Hooper said. For people who drive 12,000 miles a year, the combined taxes come to about $228 a year, he said.
Gas-tax money is used to pay for transportation projects.
“So, to remain silent on this issue for very long is eventually going to put the state in a crisis where we can’t have adequate transportation capacity,” said Hooper, who chairs the Senate Transportation, Tourism and Economic Development Appropriations Committee.
But a Tesla lobbyist, Sen. Tracie Davis, D-Jacksonville, and Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, said the proposal could result in electric-vehicle owners being “double taxed.”
“Electric-vehicle owners pay tax when they purchase electricity, either at a charging station or at their house,” Gruters said.
Lobbyist Jeff Sharkey, who represents Tesla, said the automaker projected the appropriate fee at about $135 based on the Electric Drive Transportation Association calculations.
“What we would like to see in really going forward is really looking at what that baseline fee would be,” Sharkey said.
The proposal has the backing of the Florida Chamber of Commerce and the Florida League of Cities.
Ananth Prasad, president of the Florida Transportation Builders’ Association, said electric vehicles are “highly subsidized” under a federal law known as the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which earmarked $7.5 billion toward electric-vehicle infrastructure.
“There’s a heavy amount of subsidy already given to encourage people to drive electric vehicles,” Prasad said.
But Leighanne Boone of the Rethink Energy Action Fund called the proposal “punitive,” as families are choosing electric vehicles because they are less expensive to drive.
Darryl Alfred, who uses an electric vehicle as a rideshare driver in Tallahassee, said the fees could create a disincentive for electric-vehicle ownership in disadvantaged communities.
“After doing some research I found that I could afford the high payments (of an electric vehicle), but only if I stayed steady at work,” said Alfred, who also works as a real estate agent. “Part of what made this possible was the lack of fuel, oil changes and other fees and maintenance typical of vehicle ownership.”
The Senate approved a similar proposal during the 2023 legislative session, but the measure did not advance in the House. Hooper’s bill is filed for the 2024 session, which will start Jan. 9.
The House Transportation & Modals Subcommittee will take up similar legislation (HB 107) on Thursday.
State economists have projected the proposed registration fees would generate $65 million a year, with nearly two-thirds going into the State Transportation Trust Fund and the rest picked up by local governments.
The Florida Department of Transportation’s 2021 EV Infrastructure Master Plan found the use of electric vehicles could result in a drop of 5.6 percent to 20 percent in “motor-fuel based revenue streams” by 2040. The percentage varied depending on the rate of EV sales.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, Florida is second to California in the number of registered electric vehicles. The federal agency based its numbers on data from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Experian Information Solutions.
As of the end of 2022, Florida had 167,990 registered electric vehicles, up from 95,640 a year earlier. At the end of 2020, Florida had 58,160 registered EVs.
A Senate staff analysis said 32 states impose some form of registration fee on electric vehicles. Of those, 19 states include a fee on plug-in vehicles that operate on a combination of electricity and gasoline.
Under Hooper’s proposal, the annual Florida electric-vehicle fee would go up to $250 starting in 2029. The hybrid fee would increase to $100 in 2029, with the electric motorcycle fee going to $35.
–Jim Turner, News Service of Florida
R.S. says
Well, how about an addendum for a health impact fee for dirty-vehicle owners that make people breathe their fumes daily?!
MeToo says
Just tax everything!
Marc Crane says
Finally!
JimboXYZ says
I warned about the EV’s being taxed for lost gasoline tax revenues. It won’t stop there, they’ll be raising utilities in your house/apartment too. And all of this under the guise of saving the planet, when that’s the last thing any of it is really about. Unaffordable transportation, making ICEV owners pick up the tab for this Biden-Harris Green New Scam of a fantasy. Who wants to charge their EV for hours on 110/220V only to get enough range to drive & hope to make it to a Super Charger and then waste another hour of their lives trying to get another a full charge & 300-350 miles of range ?
And when that’s the only game in town, the Super Charger rates will go up higher. All these unaffordable rent apartments the council continues to approve, I want to see the apartment dwellers that can afford the additional up front costs of an EV vs ICEV. Then not have the charging stations to go around for everyone to charge their EV. Everyone will be running a power cord from their apartments, out into the parking lots, that’s if that power cord even reaches or needs to be daisy chained as extension cords from a 220V washer/dryer in their apartment and they aren’t directly living at the edge of the parking lot.
Let me guess, City of Palm Coast wants to approve more for charging stations that still will be iuadequate to meet the demand & consumption ? And then the grid will have to be load managed. Just gets better doesn’t it under the Biden ?
Endangered species says
Hahaha the florida senate doesn’t give a $hI+ if your kids die. Profits over people!
Skibum says
Ah yes, another blow to freedom in DeSantis’ so-called “freedom state” where the GOP legislature must spend a lot of time in the back rooms up in Tallahassee, drinking copious amounts of bourbon whiskey, smoking their cigars and coming up with new and inventive ways to counter environmental initiates that are being implemented in Washington D.C. to curtail this country’s dependance on fossil fuels. Maybe their next step in this effort will be to swear in some DeSantis petroleum police that will spread out over this state’s highways, pulling over cars that have at least one passenger in addition to the driver so they can fine every adult passenger a $10 road use fee as they are joyriding and not helping the state’s bottom line by driving their own car and buying gasoline from the corporate petroleum distributers who lobby hard in Tallahassee for their fair share of each citizen’s hard earned money here in the “freedom state”.
DaleL says
The proposed EV tax has some merit, but it is a flat tax. Drivers of conventional Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles are taxed progressively. Their tax is based on the miles they drive and the fuel efficiency of their vehicle. The principle purpose of the road use tax (gas tax) is to provide the government the means to build and maintain roads.
Larger heavier vehicles which are driven more miles, should be taxed more. I suggest an EV tax which is based on the weight of the EV and the number of miles it is driven. It would work as follows: EV registrations would be on an annual basis. The odometer reading would be verified by either a police officer or a tax official. The registration fee would include the same fee as paid by ICE vehicle owners plus an EV surcharge based on miles driven factored by the weight of the EV.
Thus a Nissan Leaf (3,500 pounds) that was driven 7,000 miles a year would not have the same tax as a VW ID.4 (4,900 pounds) that was driven 14,000 miles a year. I’m all for fair taxation, but the flat tax proposals are inherently unfair.
dave says
So lets NOW penalize EV owners because there is not enough cars and trucks being sold. Freaking brilliant. NOT !
Atwp says
Don’t you all just love the Republicans?
CELIA PUGLIESE says
Logical will be imposed sooner or later!