ARTBA Leads Effort Urging Congress to Enact Federal EV Fee

What happened: ARTBA and 25 other national associations and labor unions called on Congress to pass a national electric vehicle (EV) user fee and dedicate the resources to the Highway Trust Fund in a Feb. 26 letter.  The letter also calls on Congress to reject any efforts to reduce or eliminate any existing user fees for motor vehicles.

On Feb. 12, Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) and Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) introduced legislation to create a national fee aiming to bring parity for EVs with national gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles.

Why it matters: Enacting a federal fee would create tax fairness among all vehicles using the nation’s transportation network. While 39 states currently have some sort of EV user fee, there is not a comparable levy at the federal level.

What’s next: Discussions are afoot to potentially include a national EV fee as part of the Republican tax reform package expected later this year. This is a priority for ARTBA in ongoing tax discussions and staff has urged all members of Congress to co-sponsor the Fischer/Johnson bills.