Are you an asshat that wants to be taxed for every mile you drive on the road? Are you a fan of invasive government monitoring and surveillance? Are you a NARC for the fossil fuel industry and want to see EV vehicles adopted as slowly as possible?
If so, the Oklahoma government has an opportunity for you!
Earlier this week. The state pushed a new program called “Fair Miles OK” – a new oil and gas-backed initiative the legislature launched that has the ultimate end goal of taxing electric and other fuel-efficient vehicles.
Here are some details via KFOR Channel 4:
The State Department of Transportation is weighing how Oklahomans should be taxed to pay for road and bridge repairs, through the “Fair Miles Oklahoma” pilot program.
While more Oklahomans purchase electric vehicles, the question becomes should you be taxed by the amount of gas you buy or by the number of miles you buy?
KFOR talked with State Representative Brian Hill to get an answer to that question…
Right now, Oklahomans pay a $0.20/gallon gas tax to help pay for repairs to state roads. Rep. Hill said the average Oklahoman pays about $140 a year in those taxes.
However, as more people switch to fuel efficient cars, the money coming into the state goes down.
“By 2045, there’s going to be a 45% drop off. That accounts for about $250 million in revenue,” asked Rep, Hill.
Hill said less than 10% of cars on Oklahoma’s roads are electric. As that number grows, so do road repairs from the heavy EVs.
“More weight that you have on the road, the more damage it does to the streets,” said Rep. Hill.
Yep, the more weight you have on the road, the more damage it does to the streets. I guess our state's obesity problem does even more harm than we realize!
Also, if heavy vehicles cause more issues, shouldn’t we look at raising taxes on every F-350, Ram 3500, or any other oversized tank truck you'll find parked in a Twin Peaks parking lot on a Saturday night? Why should someone who drives a Honda Civic pay the same gas taxes as those guys?
For some reason, lawmakers don’t want to conduct a study on that issue.
Here’s more:
During the pilot program, 440 Oklahoma volunteers, with cars from old gas guzzlers to new EVs, are submitting their mileage in different ways.
“They can just take a picture of their odometer every month,” said Bryce Boyer with ODOT. “A little plug in that plugs into their car and it automatically reports what they’re driving.”
They can also give ODOT permission to get the information straight from the vehicle’s manufacturer or through the Fair Miles app.
“We do have the manual reporting option because some people don’t want to take the pictures and some vehicles are too old,” said Boyer.
Boyer said participants receive a mock invoice and tell the department what does and does not work. ODOT said this will help give the state a good look at how many miles Oklahomans drive and how much it should cost.
If you’re one of the 440 NARCS participating in this program can you shoot me an email and explain why? Well, that is if Harold Hamm will let you. I don’t want to jeopardize your employment.
Anyway, I want to clarify that my head isn’t totally in the sand on this issue like an Oil Overlord trying to ignore global warming.
Electric vehicles will likely make up a majority of all cars on the road someday, and today’s gas guzzlers are more fuel-efficient. Obviously, something will need to be done to offset the loss in gas consumption to maintain and build new roads.
But is making the state essentially one giant turnpike really the best approach? How would that even work? Will the Government track our miles and then send us a bill in the mail? I don’t think people on the paranoid left or right will be fans of that.
If you ask me, a great alternative – especially in the short term – would be to simply increase the gasoline tax!
Not only would that help offset the revenue loss of people moving to electric vehicles, but it would also encourage people to make a quicker move to electric, and as a result, further combat the destruction and harm that fossil fuel consumption does to our planet! Then, once a larger percentage of EV cars are on the road, you could tax components like batteries to offset any loss of gas taxes!
Makes sense, huh? Plus, Oklahoma gas taxes are already low, so we have room to increase them:
Of course, the drawback to my idea is that it's better for the planet and wouldn't benefit the oil and gas industry that controls our legislature, government and even our universities, and help soften the blow that EV adoption will have on our Oil Overlords' bottom line.
That's probably the real motivating factor here for our lawmakers.
Oil Overlords are already calling for increased taxes on harvestable energy created from air movement and sunlight, so I guess we should not be surprised to see them pulling the strings of their legislative puppets to make sure EV owners pay their "fair share." It is a theme to the special session Stitt just called.
Anyway, I guess we'll continue to monitor this situation and provide updates as Oklahoma becomes one massive turnpike.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We'll keep you advised.
