For Immediate Release
March 26, 2013
Contact: Beth Kemler, 804-335-0915, beth@chesapeakeclimate.org
RICHMOND—Beth Kemler, Virginia State Director at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, issued the following statement in response to news reports that Governor McDonnell will keep the annual hybrid car tax alive, amending it to $64 a year:
“While Governor McDonnell bent to public outcry and reduced the hybrid car tax, he should have vetoed it altogether, as thousands of Virginians urged. The hybrid tax remains an unfair and unreasonable policy. A $64 fee is just as arbitrary as the whole policy is to begin with.
“People who are doing their part to reduce oil consumption reward all of us with cleaner air and less climate pollution — but now Virginia will turn around and punish hybrid car owners. Just like many companies offer health incentives for quitting smoking, Virginia should reward, not punish, people who drive the cleanest, most fuel-efficient cars.
“I applaud Delegate Scott Surovell and Senator Adam Ebbin for their efforts calling on the governor to veto the tax and I hope to work with them to repeal it. Even at the reduced amount, the numbers still just don’t make sense. A typical Civic Hybrid owner buys about 100 fewer gallons of gas per year than the average owner of a regular Civic. In order for 100 gallons of gas to equal $64 in revenue from the new wholesale gas tax, gas prices would have to soar to $18 a gallon.1
“Ultimately, any form of extra tax on cleaner cars is a wrong-headed policy at the wrong time, as the impacts of climate change, from sea-level rise to extreme storms, hit home in Virginia. The commonwealth should be rewarding climate solutions, not punishing them.”
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1. Based on the new wholesale gas tax structure and based on driving 12,000 miles a year with EPA/DOT fuel economy of 44 miles per gallon for the 2012 Honda Civic Hybrid and 32 miles per gallon for the 2012 Honda Civic.
