ColumbiaMagazine.com
Printed from:

Welcome to Columbia Magazine  
 




































 
KACo recommends electric vehicle tax to lawmakers

By Jordan Hensley, LRC

Frankfort, KY - Counties across the Commonwealth would like to see lawmakers make a few changes during the upcoming 2022 legislative session. One of those changes includes establishing an electric vehicle tax or fee.

Representatives from the Kentucky Association of Counties (KACo) presented the group's 2022 legislative agenda to the Interim Joint Committee on Local Government on Monday, November 22, 2021.

"The time for Kentucky to address this is now," said Shellie Hampton, KACo director of government affairs. "Thirty states, including all of our neighbors, have already instituted an electric vehicle fee."

Hampton also noted that many of the states that have implemented electric vehicle fees share the revenue with county governments.


KACo reports that nearly 40% of county roads are in need of moderate to significant repair, and that county governments own and maintain half of the roads in the state. Currently, counties only receive a portion of the motor fuel tax funds from the state to fund their own road departments.

Hampton said while electric vehicles account for less than 1% of vehicles in Kentucky, and the initial revenues from an electric vehicle tax would be small, that number is expected to grow.

"Automakers that account for roughly a quarter of the global auto sales in 2019, including Ford GM, Volvo and Mercedes, announced earlier this month that they will all work toward phasing out sales of gasoline and diesel powered vehicles by 2040 worldwide," Hampton said.

Sen. Michael J. Nemes, R-Shepherdsville, asked if there had been a discussion about not establishing a separate electric vehicle tax and implementing just one "usage tax" instead.

Jim Henderson, KACo executive director and CEO, said ultimately, KACo would like to see counties receive more money to take care of roads and bridges.

"As Shellie mentioned earlier, there are projections that as many as 30% of the cars that will be sold new by 2030 will be electric," Henderson said. "So whatever we do, we really can't wait much longer to start thinking about an alternative funding source for transportation."

As of 2pmET on Monday, no bills relating to an electric vehicle tax or fee had been pre-filed by any lawmakers. The Kentucky General Assembly cannot take any action on any proposed legislation until the 2022 legislative session begins on January 4, 2022.


This story was posted on 2021-11-23 09:33:04
Printable: this page is now automatically formatted for printing.
Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know.



 


































 
 
Quick Links to Popular Features


Looking for a story or picture?
Try our Photo Archive or our Stories Archive for all the information that's appeared on ColumbiaMagazine.com.

 

Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by Linda Waggener and Pen Waggener, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728.
Phone: 270.403.0017


Please use our contact page, or send questions about technical issues with this site to webmaster@columbiamagazine.com. All logos and trademarks used on this site are property of their respective owners. All comments remain the property and responsibility of their posters, all articles and photos remain the property of their creators, and all the rest is copyright 1995-Present by Columbia Magazine. Privacy policy: use of this site requires no sharing of information. Voluntarily shared information may be published and made available to the public on this site and/or stored electronically. Anonymous submissions will be subject to additional verification. Cookies are not required to use our site. However, if you have cookies enabled in your web browser, some of our advertisers may use cookies for interest-based advertising across multiple domains. For more information about third-party advertising, visit the NAI web privacy site.