PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 17, 2021
In negotiating the bipartisan infrastructure bill, Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Rob Portman argue that electric vehicles should be taxed equivalent to what other vehicles pay to maintain the infrastructure we drive on. As Collins put it, EV drivers are “literally free riders, because they’re not paying any gas tax.” Democrats should realize that these Republicans are right. Collins is not being predatory but prescient. EVs may have a 3 percent market share today, but they are the future. When auto giants like Ford and General Motors invest billions in manufacturing EVs and pledge to abandon the very vehicles that generated their profits for over a century, the transition won’t be slowed by a use tax. ~ Greg Bates, Monroe