New fees not unfair

After reading so many letters to the editor (mostly negative) concerning newly hiked $100 fees for registering hybrid and electric vehicles that share the roads of this state, I wonder if any of these folks understand just what is the origin of state registration fees versus state fuel taxes. Not to get them confused, but these charges together help pay for everything that involves private and commercial vehicle use, abuse, detriment, maintenance, paperwork, and roadwork upon our state highways. Speed-limit and construction-zone signs? I don’t know.

Surely you can understand that when fuel taxes were originally imposed, there were very very few electric or hybrid road vehicles. Most used gasoline. Still with me? Road-use taxes were based on the weight and the distance that weight was powered along any state road by a formula including the class of vehicle (that is, its weight) and fuel consumption (as a measure of distance). If you drive an 18-wheeler, you definitely know this. So unless your hybrid or electric (or even nuclear rocket) vehicle is weightless (as an airplane after it leaves the runway), then your vehicle is liable for charges for upkeep of the common road.

Most hopefully, as green vehicles continue to replace fossil-fueled ones, we may all enjoy paying $100 (or whatever amount it requires) in the near future that we have left before we all air-fry like popcorn. Until that (un)time, with gratitude, you do save money on fuel and help the environment as you pass me at 65 mph in a Prius along the I-630 construction zone. Did I say zoom on down the road?

PHILLIP CORRELL Little Rock