Hybrid owners take tax fight to the governorMar 18 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Jim Nolan Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.
Road rage isn't exactly what you'd expect from the drivers of electric or hybrid vehicles, which number roughly 92,000 out of the 7.5 million cars in Virginia. But in their own polite, environmentally friendly way, about 6,845 of them registered their anger Monday over a proposed $100 annual tax on Virginia's alternative fuel vehicles, embedded in the sweeping transportation package passed last month by the General Assembly and currently under review by Gov. Bob McDonnell. The owners didn't drive to the state Capitol. Rather, they objected to the fee provision by signing an online petition, which was printed out and delivered to McDonnell's office at lunchtime by Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria, and Del. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax. "There's a lot of anger and bewilderment," said Surovell, who drives a 2004 Honda Civic hybrid and briefed reporters on the petition in in front of the General Assembly Building, against a backdrop of the Capitol and two Prius vehicles on loan from Mechanicsville Toyota. He said the $100 fee disproportionately taxes hybrid owners, considering the average savings in gas tax of high mileage alternative vehicles compared to conventional autos is only about $30. Ebbin said the fee provision -- which generates roughly 1 percent of the revenue included in the plan -- penalizes hybrid owners for "doing the right thing" in buying vehicles that promote fuel efficiency and leave a smaller carbon footprint. Surovell added that owners view the levy as "a tax on virtue." Before delivering the signatures to the governor's office, both urged McDonnell to remove the provision from the plan, which is estimated to generate $10 to $17 million a year over the next five years. The hybrid provision is just one of many parts of the tax-heavy transportation funding package that have come under criticism in the days following its passage in the General Assembly, made possible by the support of Democrats and moderate Republicans. Conservatives, including Virginia attorney general and 2013 gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli, have objected to the tax increases in the plan, which would raise the wholesale gas tax, the state sales tax and authorize regional taxes, in addition to the hybrid fee hikes. Along with McDonnell, Democrat Terry McAuliffe supported the funding package, viewed by supporters as the most significant legislative response to Virginia's transportation maintenance and funding issues since the gas tax was last raised in 1986. http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=27957479 |