Walker supports new vehicle fee
Annual charge to apply to hybrid, electric cars
CUDAHY - Signaling his support for a new fee on electric and hybrid vehicles, Gov. Scott Walker on Friday said charging more for those cars was a matter of fairness.
“If they put wear and tear on the roads like any other vehicle, they should probably have a part in paying for the system,” the GOP governor told reporters after attending a groundbreaking for Angelic Bakehouse.
His comments add support to a plan pushed by some of his fellow Republicans to put a new annual fee on electric and hybrid vehicles. Backers of the idea hope it can help wrap up work on a state budget that is two months late.
“Parity is the word,” Walker said. “If the Assembly and Senate put something in place — parity between vehicles that use gasoline, and therefore pay a gas tax, and vehicles that do not, parity makes sense to me.”
Rep. Gordon Hintz (DOshkosh) said Walker was hypocritical for supporting the fee after saying for months he opposed raising taxes and fees for highways. The electric and hybrid vehicle fee would do little to help the state’s transportation fund and a more comprehensive plan is needed, said Hintz, who sits on the Legislature’s budget committee.
“What the Republicans are talking about right now is not an answer to the transportation challenge that they’ve been punting on for six years,” he said.
A $100 fee would generate about $8 million a year. That’s a small amount compared to the roughly $3 billion a year the state Department of Transportation raises, but it would generate enough to pay for an additional $100 million in borrowing.
Transportation funding has been the biggest sticking point in budget talks. Republicans control all of state government but missed their July 1 deadline for putting a budget in place.
State funding is continuing at levels from the last fiscal year until a new budget is approved.
The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee next week plans to take up the budget, as well as a $3 billion incentive package aimed at luring Foxconn Technology Group of Taiwan to southeastern Wisconsin. The company has said it plans to build a $10 billion factory that would eventually employ up to 13,000 people to manufacture flat-panel display screens.
Walker’s comments put him in the camp of Republicans who have argued owners of electric and hybrid vehicles should pay higher fees because they don’t contribute as much toward maintaining roads. The state’s 32.9-cents-per-gallon gas tax is its main source of funding, but electric vehicles don’t use gas and hybrid vehicles use far less of it than standard vehicles.
A $100 fee on electric and hybrid vehicles would more than double the $75 annual registration fee for passenger vehicles.
The incentive package for Foxconn includes an agreement that would exempt the company from state regulation of wetlands. It would also allow the company to do construction work in public waterways, including changing the course of streams, without a state permit.
Walker cautioned that Foxconn will have to comply with other air and water regulations and will be under close scrutiny. But he said he would consider applying the approach to other companies, though not necessarily as part of the Foxconn legislation.
Earlier this week, Natural Resources Secretary Cathy Stepp announced she was leaving for a post at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Naming a replacement for Stepp will come after the budget and Foxconn legislation are passed, Walker said.
Walker said he will consider Kurt Thiede, deputy secretary of the agency who will serve as interim secretary, for the secretary’s post, as well as others.
“What I ultimately want for someone in that position is someone who understands the balance between protecting the environment — the natural resources of our state — and continuing to protect and support economic prosperity of our state,” he said.