One of the measures quietly signed into law recently by Gov. Mary Fallin creates a tax on electric vehicles.
HB 1449 calls for a $100 annual tax on electric vehicles and a $30 annual fee on hybrid electric vehicles.
While it angered electric-car owners when the State House passed the measure on a 51-44 vote, one of the proponents, Sen. Stephanie Bice, R-Oklahoma City defended the measure. She explained in a tweet that electric car operators do not pay a gasoline tax which funds roads and bridges.
Another legislator, Rep. Dustin Roberts, R-Durant defended the fee and pointed out that electric vehicle owners also receive a federal rebate.
“Right now if you go buy an electric car you get a $7,500 rebate and you don’t have to pay into the infrastructure system that you’re taking space up and tearing—the war and tear on these roads,” he said during debate on the bill.
Oklahoma is now the eleventh state in the U.S. to tax electric vehicle owners.