As Delaware drivers, we deserve honesty, not sugarcoating. On Oct. 1, the state began imposing what it calls an “annual renewal fee” on the owners of alternative fuel vehicles. Don’t be misled by the wording in Delaware Code. This isn’t a renewal fee; it’s a new road usage tax. For hybrid drivers like me, it’s not just one tax, it’s two.
Gasoline drivers already pay road usage taxes at the pumps, through state and federal fuel taxes. It’s fair: The more you drive, the more you pay. Delaware’s new fee will charge AFV owners a flat $85-$150 every year, no matter how much or how little we drive.
For drivers of fully electric vehicles, the fee replaces gas taxes, which is OK because they don’t ever have to pay at the pump. Plug-in hybrid and pure hybrid drivers get punished the most. In my case, since July 2016, I’ve driven 4,219 miles and spent $305.71 on fuel — which already included about $37 in gas taxes. As of Oct. 1, I also owe Delaware’s flat alternative fuel vehicle fee. In other words, I’ll pay both: taxes at the pump and the fee at registration. That’s not paying a fair share; that’s double taxation. Going forward, I will pay gas taxes at the pump and at the Division of Motor Vehicles when I renew my registration. Is that a fair share or a double fair share?
This irony is painful. Hybrids are supposed to be bridges to cleaner driving. Instead, Delaware penalizes their owners most of all. Pure gas drivers pay once. Electric vehicle drivers pay once annually. Hybrids pay twice annually. No good deed goes unpunished.
Samuel Rodriguez
Millsboro
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
