Will state’s new hybrid, electric car tax affect you?

Mississippi drivers with a hyrbid or electric car will pay a new tax when it’s time to renew their car tags.

The state Legislature approved the tax in August’s special session under the Mississippi Infrastructure Modernization Act. The tax went into effect Oct. 1.

Mississippians who drive a hybrid vehicle will pay a $75 tax when they register their car or renew their car tag while electric car owners will pay a tax of $150. All monies will go to the Missis-

sippi Department of Transportation.

Approximately 15,000 Mississippians are impacted by the move. One thousand of those drivers drive electric vehicles.

In Mississippi, an 18-cent tax is collected at the gas pump. The tax on hybrid and electric vehicles was pitched as a way to collect that tax from drivers who may not be fueling up as often, if at all, but still use the roadways.

In a letter to the editor to the Hattiesburg American, Vicksburg resident Dwain Butler said the tax punishes “good and positive behavior.”

“Most states reward hybrid and electric vehicles,” he wrote. “Arizona, for example, offers numerous incentives for hybrid, all electric, and alternative fuel vehicles, e.g., state tax credit, preferred parking, automatic qualification for HOV lanes, and even tax credits for home charger modification costs . ... However, MS in its typical backward fashion chooses to penalize owners of energy efficient vehicles.”

House Speaker Philip Gunn, who promoted the tax on hybrid and electric vehicles as part of an infrastructure funding package, did not return calls for comment.

Kathy Waterbury, associate commissioner for executive support and enforcement for the Mississippi Department of Revenue, said, “Since electrics don’t pay any and hybrids pay less, this is kind of in lieu of that (gas tax). It’s going to the same place.”

Waterbury stressed that it’s not an additional car tag tax.

“Instead of paying it every time you fill up the tank, you’re paying it once a year with a car tag. It’s a means of collecting,” she said. “It’s not a car tag fee, it was a means of how to collect it efficiently.”

The Department of Revenue sent out letters addressing the tax at the beginning of October.