Kakkerlak
Well-known member
It's been a hassle getting my registration paperwork processed, but today I finally got license plates for my shiny new Focus Electric, exactly 4 weeks from when I picked it up.
I wanted to share a couple of good things.
Even though Washington State has not signed onto the same Battery-Electric Vehicle rules as California and Oregon have, they're still exempting 100% electric vehicles from sales and use taxes. We even include the BMW i3 with REX, because the chassis carbon fiber frame is made out in Moses Lake.
That includes the 6.5% State sales tax, and the 3.0 % County sales tax (in King County, our densest population center), and the 0.3% Motor Vehicle Use Tax, for a total of 9.8%.
The law exempting electric vehicles started as a law exempting hybrids, which expired in 2009. The EV portion expires July 1, 2015.
I was told that the lease company will start charging sales tax on my lease payments after the law expires. I don't see any realistic progress by our various EV lobbyists to extend that law; EVs are popular here but are also seen through the Tesla lens as cars for the wealthy.
You still pay "Excise taxes" and "RTA Assessments"; that's what Washington State did years ago when our favorite local tax crusader Tim Eyman managed to get through a citizen initiative that slashed the auto registration fees. Total on my Focus Electric was $227.25, including my State Parks donation.
That seemed low, because I'd planned on paying the $100 electric vehicle fee that was enacted last year to make up for the gas tax that EV drivers don't pay.
I was pleased to learn the detail; Washington State RCW 46.17 Section 10 defines that new fee and it applies only to registration *renewals*, so I don't pay it on my initial registration of the car.
On my old Honda hybrid I was paying about $75 per year in gas tax. I think it's fair to charge a tax on EV drivers for the wear and tear we put on the roads, but a little weird to give me a huge sales tax incentive as the same time.
To top off my day of waiting in line, I took my wife's gas-powered RAV4 for an oil change and was surprised at the reminder of how blackened, worn, and smelly everything under the hood was. I ended up paying those guys to flush, filter, and dispose of four quarts of dinosaur juice with a smile on my face.
I wanted to share a couple of good things.
Even though Washington State has not signed onto the same Battery-Electric Vehicle rules as California and Oregon have, they're still exempting 100% electric vehicles from sales and use taxes. We even include the BMW i3 with REX, because the chassis carbon fiber frame is made out in Moses Lake.
That includes the 6.5% State sales tax, and the 3.0 % County sales tax (in King County, our densest population center), and the 0.3% Motor Vehicle Use Tax, for a total of 9.8%.
The law exempting electric vehicles started as a law exempting hybrids, which expired in 2009. The EV portion expires July 1, 2015.
I was told that the lease company will start charging sales tax on my lease payments after the law expires. I don't see any realistic progress by our various EV lobbyists to extend that law; EVs are popular here but are also seen through the Tesla lens as cars for the wealthy.
You still pay "Excise taxes" and "RTA Assessments"; that's what Washington State did years ago when our favorite local tax crusader Tim Eyman managed to get through a citizen initiative that slashed the auto registration fees. Total on my Focus Electric was $227.25, including my State Parks donation.
That seemed low, because I'd planned on paying the $100 electric vehicle fee that was enacted last year to make up for the gas tax that EV drivers don't pay.
I was pleased to learn the detail; Washington State RCW 46.17 Section 10 defines that new fee and it applies only to registration *renewals*, so I don't pay it on my initial registration of the car.
On my old Honda hybrid I was paying about $75 per year in gas tax. I think it's fair to charge a tax on EV drivers for the wear and tear we put on the roads, but a little weird to give me a huge sales tax incentive as the same time.
To top off my day of waiting in line, I took my wife's gas-powered RAV4 for an oil change and was surprised at the reminder of how blackened, worn, and smelly everything under the hood was. I ended up paying those guys to flush, filter, and dispose of four quarts of dinosaur juice with a smile on my face.