GREENSBORO, N.C. — You know the saying, 'I feel like they're penny, nickel and dime-ing me'? A 2 Wants To Know viewer looked at his car registration and thought that saying had gone to a whole new level.
His registration is from the North Carolina DMV shows his property taxes at the top. While they are the bulk of the registration total cost what got our viewer upset, was the flat fee for his Electric Vehicle charge of $180. His point was, why am I being charged for not using gas? And why am I being charged $40 more than last year?
"There has been talk of making it a percentage instead of a flat fee but that has to be addressed every year. Not only is it $180 it's going to be adjusted for inflation, and it's going to be $214 in four years from now," said NC Representative Pricey Harrison, District 61, Democrat.
As of January 1, 2024, the Electric Vehicle fee was increased from $140 to $180 and the plug-in Hybrid fee was put into place for the first time at $90. There's a scramble for money, for the first time the NC General Assembly voted to divert state sales tax money to transportation and by next year nearly 6% will go to the Highway Fund. Why?
Harrison says because energy-efficient vehicles, gas, EVs, or Hybrids, don't use as much gas and the gas tax is what helps fund bridge and road maintenance.
"We have to figure out how to pay for the road and we've started taking part of the sales taxes," said Harrison.
There are 70,000+ EV vehicles registered in NC.
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