Governor Terry McAuliffe is kicking the hybrid car tax to the curb.
Governor McAuliffe signed a bill Wednesday repealing the tax on hybrids. It was an idea that passed last year as part of the big transportation compromise, but it went nowhere fast.
They didn’t exactly roar into Richmond with their protests at the end of January, they were driving hybrids after all, but their voices were certainly heard.
More than 7,000 owners of hybrids signed petitions asking the General Assembly to overturn the $64 per year license tax imposed last year as part of the transportation bill.
The idea was to get the owners of the 90,000 hybrid vehicles in Virginia to pay their fair share for road building and maintenance, which is paid for in part through the gas tax. The less gas used, the less taxes paid.
But hybrid owners said the tax was unfair. They were being penalized for doing the right thing – saving fuel.
This year’s General Assembly agreed and voted to ditch the tax.
The hybrid tax was small change in the budget – about $11 million per year. The transportation bill that passed last year will raise $1 bill per year.
