this post was submitted on 20 May 2026
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they want you trapped in the fossil fuel death spiral
Fuel taxes pay for roads. If you don't buy fuel you don't help pay for roads to drive your EV on.
If only other types of taxes could be used to pay for roads... But alas, only gas taxes can be used for that. Entirely different monetary system, that. Roads need gas money and regular money just won't do.
Other types of taxes are exactly what this article is about. A flat tax for EV owners is their proposed solution to the problem. Sure, other options exist, but people are commenting like this is an insane idea and it's pretty vanilla.
Oregon has a pay-per-mile system that would be more fair, IMO. Not sure if they still have it but at one point, they let you choose between having a tracker or just self-reporting your mileage. Makes sense if you use the road less, you should pay less and vice-versa.
Flat tax just spreads the estimated additional wear and cost around to everyone, like going out to dinner with a group and splitting the bill evenly vs just paying for what you ordered. I’d rather just pay for what I ordered.
More fair would be to pay for road wear and tear. Bigger cars do more damage to roads, and semis do exponentially more. Drop the gas tax and charge per mile scaled to the weight of your half loaded vehicle.
I own an EV and already pay an extra road tax for having an EV to my state, on top of more for tires, more for insurance, more for repairs, and more for public fast charging thanks to the government’s failure to build up charging infrastructure at a decent pace. Why should I pay another tax to the federal government?
The "if things weren't insane right now" answer is that state taxes don't directly go to support the federal highway system, that's funded through things like gas tax as well. The current real answer is "fuck you and your tamed lightning car, liberal"
Kinda figured it was something like that, in both cases lol
Fuel tax only pays 25% of the cost of roads.
Are there no vehicle taxes in the US?
It’s the US we get taxed on everything, it just isn’t always obvious.