The sad state of Michigan’s roads is apparently pushing the political shot callers to look for solutions to funnel some money towards fixing them. One way they’re reportedly planning on doing that is obviously to cut spending in other areas, in this case mainly business tax credits; they may even impose a tax for hybrids and EVs.
WLNS quotes (republican) state representative Jeff Farrington as saying “we think the roads are a higher priority that is not to say the business tax are a bad thing, but maybe it’s time for the pendulum to swing the other way,” adding that “the message to the consumer is we’re going to charge you extra for buying those cars so its send the message that consumers are probably going to think twice before purchasing them.”
It’s not clear how exactly they will proceed, but hitting the minuscule number of EVs and low number of hybrids with extra taxes and incentive cuts doesn’t really sound like a sound plan, especially in the long term and it’s not at all green.
It really makes you wonder as to whose motives are being put forth here – are the politicians edgy that they’re giving away money for tax breaks and incentives and feel like they made a wrong initial move and are now insufficiently profiting from it?
The politician’s argument is that owners and drivers of gas-powered cars have to support alternatively fueled vehicles fully through road taxes, which is deemed unfair, but owning one such vehicle from the latter category doesn’t come without its own sacrifices, and I don’t think it’s really as unfair as they’d have you believe – current EV owners still have to put up with a lot of extra hassle, being early adopters.
It’s not the end of the world, and they should divert money towards road reconstruction from other parts of the budget, and not hit a sector of the market which without incentives and special care would probably flat-line…