Vehicle fuel efficiency is target of proposed tax
Cars blamed for global warming; Eyman fires back
OLYMPIA -- Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, want car owners to warm to the inconvenient truth of cutting vehicle emissions.
And they're aiming for a place all drivers will feel it -- the pocket.
Senate Bill 6923 would impose a vehicle excise tax on all passenger vehicles based on EPA ratings of a cars' fuel efficiency. For example, the owner of a hybrid car such as, say, a Toyota Prius, would pay $60 in annual taxes, whereas the owner of a Hummer H3 would pay $180 a year.
"The (governor's) climate advisory team said that the biggest global warming problem in this state is actually from transportation," Murray said. "We have fairly clean industry, so we have to be careful that we don't get into the situation where we're punishing a few industries when the problem is actually the number of automobiles. This legislation finally takes into account global warming to the responsibility of owning a vehicle."
The tax would replace slumping revenue collected through the state's gas tax. Rising fuel costs have lured drivers from their cars while the increased popularity of gas-efficient vehicles has cut back on the number of trips drivers make to the pumps.
The money raised would be split between the state Department of Transportation and local governments, with 75 percent of the tax going to cities and counties and 25 percent going to the DOT for transportation projects, including "green" alternatives.
Commercial drivers would be exempt from the legislation.
It is unclear if the bill will be moved forward because it was proposed late in the session. The Legislature's cutoff date for new bills is Friday.
According to Craig Engelking, a lobbyist for the Sierra Club, even if the bill does not move forward, it will further green interests by initiating dialogue among legislators.
Continue reading this article from the Seattle P-I:
Vehicle fuel efficiency is target of proposed tax
