Ryan's Tax Scam certainly picks winner and losers-- it is designed that way-- and although people in blue states like California, New York, New Jersey and Illinois are singled out for the worst treatment, people who drive electric cars are also targeted. Yesterday, Autolist.com released a study showing that that electric vehicles will be hard hit by Ryan's scam. The survey of 23,217 vehicle owners found that political Independents reported feeling 6.7% more financially burdened than Republicans and 1.34% more burdened than Democrats. Similarly, women on average reported feeling 6.2% more financially burdened than men by the cost of vehicle ownership.
• Republicans feel 5% less burdened by the cost of vehicle ownership than the average owner; by contrast, Independents are the group that feel the most burdened.• 60% of Democrats and 51% of Independents are willing to pay higher taxes for road quality improvements; by contrast, only 47% of Republicans are willing to do so.• Women are 6% more burdened by the cost of vehicle ownership than men.• The average used electric vehicle sells 26.4 days faster than a used gasoline vehicle; however, with elimination of the tax credit, competition gets considerably more difficult for used EVs, impacting their value proposition.
The study also looked at the impact the plan would have on electric vehicles given the proposed elimination of the $7,500 EV tax break. Currently, used electric vehicles on-average sell 26.4 days faster than gasoline vehicles. However, with projected higher resale values, competition gets significantly more challenging. For example, a 2016 electric Nissan Leaf’s main price-point competitor is currently an economy car-- the 2016 Honda Civic-- but with the projected increase would become a luxury hatchback-- the 2016 Lexus CT200h.Finally, the study also asked vehicle owners if there were any transportation-related topics for which they would pay higher taxes. According to the results, 60% of Democrats and 51% of Independents are willing to pay higher taxes for road quality improvements; by contrast, only 47% of Republicans are willing to do so. Through another lens, the survey found that in aggregate 54% of men and 52% of women support higher taxes for increased road quality.
