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[Low On Cash]

Well I was all "Chipper" the other day and figured I would take the old DSR out for my weekly spin on the twisties to Suches, Ga, but as I was uncovering my bike, the better half mentioned there was an error on our tag bill and asked me to stop by the tag agency in town to get it corrected.

As I looked at the bill I almost fell over when I began to realize the tag fee for my little electric Zero had elevated almost 1100% from $21.00 a year to an unbelievable $225.20 thanks to a wonderful “Alternative Fuel Fee”. Here I am riding lightweight bike that have absolutely no effect in the deterioration of our National highways system, but “per capita” of what a bike actually would use - I’ll pay around 5000% more then some rich guy driving his $150,000 Tesla around town.

It’s now clear the Obama CAA “Pencil Heads” in Washington must have been using their vast clean air verses road tax intelligence to come up with this goofy math which forces us electric bike owners to pay gas tax for others driving electric cages. I'm seeing less and less reasons to own an electric bike now.

Making matters worse - when I add this $224 to my $500+ insurance bill, because my Zero DS has an R after which tells insurance its a racing bike which it ain’t, I’m now getting screwed by both the government and Insurance companies at the same time on this wonderful bike.  Ain’t life Great?  My good old ICE bikes are sure looking good right about now!

By the Way - If any one is Interested, I just listed my DSR on this forum.

http://electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=6710.0




*edit 20170313 by Shadow*  fixed topic title, remove font tag, clean up img tag width. Closes open moderation reports.

[Kocho]

I don't think this is Obama's fault or his administration's for that matter. This alternative fuel fee seems assessed at the state level, not at the federal level. It's worth mentioning that less oversight and less centralized federal government influence is hardly Obamian, but rather something republicans would do. That said, I hear you - bikes like that being assessed huge fees is pointless...

[ctrlburn]

Some elected people are taking great efforts to kick EV's in the ass.
Do you know anyone in STATE government who hates you?

Rather than selling your EV - I recommend getting active in politics.

You should find much of the legislation passed in each state is very similar.
The legislation owes its roots to an organization called ALEC.
Couple google searches should bring you up to speed, but here is a start....
http://www.digitaljournal.com/tech-and-science/technology/states-embrace-anti-ev-movement-by-penalizing-electric-car-owners/article/486379

Anyway the nice thing about legislation is it can change right back again (provided, unlike me, you haven't been gerrymandered out of influence).
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-wisconsin-redistricting-idUSKBN13H0SV

[clay.leihy]

Probably related to the TV ads I've seen lately that extol how wonderful oil is.

Sent from my Z981 using Tapatalk

[Low On Cash]

Some elected people are taking great efforts to kick EV's in the ass.
Do you know anyone in government who hates you?

Rather than selling your EV - I recommend getting active in politics.

You should find much of the legislation passed in each state is very similar.
The legislation owes its roots to an organization called ALEC.
Couple google searches should bring you up to speed, but here is a start....
http://www.digitaljournal.com/tech-and-science/technology/states-embrace-anti-ev-movement-by-penalizing-electric-car-owners/article/486379

Anyway the nice thing about legislation is it can change right back again (provided, like me, you haven't been gerrymandered out of influence).

Thanks for your reply's guys - 

Not trying to make this thread political but this goofy tax was done and approved on Obama's Watch!

Also while I appreciate the comment: "Rather than selling your EV - I recommend getting active in politics"

Man you have to be kidding, this government (both sides) is down the tubes, there's a Civil War going on!

 I never seen such ignorance in my life. Nobody is fixing this mess! 

 

[Kocho]

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/the_juice/2017/03/the_automobile_industry_may_get_the_weaker_epa_regulations_it_wants.html

Basically, a state-specific tax, which only Georgia charges as far I know, and that at some level makes sense to assess (but at a lower amount, IMO for bikes), as long as the proceeds of it go to road construction and maintenance. There is a whole debate about collecting road tax "per mile" as opposed at the pump, which probably makes more sense than taxing the fuel, especially if # of wheels and gross weight are accounted for (but I have not looked into it much) ...

[ctrlburn]

The tax on gasoline in Georgia is about $0.26/gallon and is - according to the authors of the bill - intended as a use tax for the roads.

So it should be reasonable to pay (without blame assigning) the missing fuel tax for using the roads, even if you ride less than 769 gallons worth.

The inequity of motorcycle EV vs Car EV needs addressing. I've said that before.

GA simultaneously revoked the $5k EV credit and imposed this EV registration charge is a well planned shift.

Even I knew about this - and I live in Wisconsin. How did a Georgia resident get surprised? I have seen this much ignorance.

[Ranga]

This has nothing to do with Obama.  He has no control over Georgia state taxes, that's the voters job. Decades ago Georgia was failing the EPA's clean air standards, so they made some EV incentives to compensate.  As a result, Atlanta became a major hub for Nissan Leaf sales.  Last year Georgia law makers got rid of the the incentives, and placed a $200 annual fee/tax on all EVs (roughly a years worth of gas taxes from the average SUV) regardless of miles driven.  You're a GA resident and EV driver, you should have been aware of this, it was on every EV website.

http://insideevs.com/georgia-kill-5000-electric-car-credit-will-impose-200-annual-road-use-fee-evs/

CA will continue to do good things for the environment for the next few years, doesn't mean Trump is responsible for it.

[Richard230]

Last year I paid $172 for the CA yearly "tag" for my 2014S. But there are several proposed bills in circulation in the state legislature that would increase that amount by between $38 and $65 per vehicle to pay for repairing our roads (we can only hope that the money will actually find its way onto the pavement) and would charge an additional $100 per year for all electric vehicles (no mention of a break for electric motorcycles). The gas tax at the pump would also be increased by 12 cents on top of the 38 cents per gallon that we are currently paying in CA.

Personally, I am not too happy about the idea of charging a flat fee for each vehicle owned to fund road maintenance, as that doesn't make any sense since many people in our state have many more than one vehicle, especially motorcycles, and can only drive one at a time.  Plus, charging electric motorcycles the same as a Tesla, also doesn't seem very fair as we have little impact on the roads due to our light weight, our mileage traveled is low compared with most electric cars and there are so few electric motorcycles registered in the state.  But apparently, the legislators feel that most EV owners drive Teslas and if you can afford one of those, you can certainly afford another $100 in licensing fees each year.

As usual in California, any group that is seen as having too much money is ripe for the plucking.   

[Low On Cash]

Like I said, I don't want this to get political, but bottom line there was all sorts of incentives to buy electric cars so we could save the planet and it looked like everyone was going to be happy as hell.  There was even government federal tax credits when we bought vehicles.  Hell even Tesla got "Billions & Billions" of dollars of our money yet he's still screwing the tax payers even today because he funnels all his US state cars sales to Nevada because he has a special no tax deal in Nevada, But don't worry guys us motorcycle dudes will pick up the slack for him!

Again this was while Obama was at the helm and "Yes" he approved it all by himself just like he did the 500 million dollars that you and I lost that he funneled to Solyndra with their solar scandal.

Now it's pay-up time - so all the electric car and bike suckers like us who bought them are suddenly now the "Black Sheep" since the pencil heads say we're stealing money from the government and not paying our fair share of road tax.  So what do the morons do, they just blanket everyone with this outrageous $150-264 for a electric bike. Wow Honda is going to pay the price for this one on their new low cost 2.8 kw Electric EV Cub commute bike which will have to also pay those goofy fees. 

Ain't Life Great!





  [/size]

[dukecola]

Like I said, I don't want this to get political, but bottom line there was all sorts of incentives to buy electric cars so we could save the planet and it looked like everyone was going to be happy as hell.  There was even government federal tax credits when we bought vehicles.  Hell even Tesla got "Billions & Billions" of dollars of our money yet he's still screwing the tax payers even today because he funnels all his US state cars sales to Nevada because he has a special no tax deal in Nevada, But don't worry guys us motorcycle dudes will pick up the slack for him!

Again this was while Obama was at the helm and "Yes" he approved it all by himself just like he did the 500 million dollars that you and I lost that he funneled to Solyndra with their solar scandal.

Now it's pay-up time - so all the electric car and bike suckers like us who bought them are suddenly now the "Black Sheep" since the pencil heads say we're stealing money from the government and not paying our fair share of road tax.  So what do the morons do, they just blanket everyone with this outrageous $150-264 for a electric bike. Wow Honda is going to pay the price for this one on their new low cost 2.8 kw Electric EV Cub commute bike which will have to also pay those goofy fees. 

Ain't Life Great!





  [/size]

Incentives were not for you to save the planet (which you aren't really doing anyway), they were to propel new technology. I got a similar tax credit in 1981 for my polluting diesel car.

[NEW2elec]

 Mike the real ass kick is the ad valorem tax you paid when first got the bike tag that was over $1000.  Plus the off the lot price drop you will have to swallow.  It makes flipping bikes a bad idea.  You might want to rethink this move. 
On a side note I have State Farm on my 13 DS and I pay $60 a year.  I know they want more for the "R" but damn how much coverage do you have?

Also for anyone else interested GA's gas tax was set up to jump MUCH higher as certain gas price points are reached.  When gas was near $4.00 the gas tax money was pouring in and they got used to the extra money.  So now that its back down they are trying to get their "fix" in other ways.  It's a pure state thing here no feds involved. 
Plus we had a 20% EV credit on top of the 10% fed credit so people could lease Leafs for like a few hundred bucks a year so yes we have tons of them now.  Any body want a $8000 2013 leaf we got em.

[Low On Cash]

They didn't charge me.  I don't know if I'm grandfathered in or they will just hit me next year, but $20 only here in GA.  Mike the real ass kick is the ad valorem tax you paid when first got the bike tag that was over $1000.  Plus the off the lot price drop you will have to swallow.  It makes flipping bikes a bad idea.  You might want to rethink this move. 
On a side note I have State Farm on my 13 DS and I pay $60 a year.  I know they want more for the "R" but damn how much coverage do you have?

Also for anyone else interested GA's gas tax was set up to jump MUCH higher as certain gas price points are reached.  When gas was near $4.00 the gas tax money was pouring in and they got used to the extra money.  So now that its back down they are trying to get their "fix" in other ways.  It's a pure state thing here no feds involved. 
Plus we had a 20% EV credit on top of the 10% fed credit so people could lease Leafs for like a few hundred bucks a year so yes we have tons of them now.  Any body want a $8000 2013 leaf we got em.

LOL hey New to electric  - there must be a sign on my back - yeah its not a pretty picture for me. 

Regarding the insurance no one is getting full insurance for $60 believe me you're policy is nothing like mine. If you get in a real accident you will be in big trouble, Just uninsured motorist alone will coat you $60 by itself. 

Most all my other bikes I pay around $100-200 year. The Zero DS was around a $100 but the DSR was I think $480 or so with full coverage. I had an Augusta Dragster RR bike and it was $500 as well. Anytime you insure a "Race" bike it will triple your cost because in most cases you won't live after an accident. 

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

There are so many insults in the original post here that your "political" comments are a ton of horseshit.

Stop posting now.  I don't care whether you sell or keep your bike; I just don't want this noise on this site.

[Shadow]

Please use the "Report to moderator" link on the posting. Far worse has been said already on EMF about UK govt although arguably with much greater tact. If that nonsense bothers you too then it should be reported.