Got an EV? You Might Be Paying New Hidden Fees, Thanks to Congress
The "beautiful" bill has already drawn a lot of attention due to landmark measures packed into the document, including significant tax reform based on major cuts, Medicaid and SNAP reform, increased immigration spending, and an increase to the national debt ceiling, to name just a few.
However, packed into the text of the nearly 1,000-page bill are some measures that will affect American motorists, especially those who seek to free themselves from the crutch of the gas pump. Hidden very deep in the bill's text is an amendment titled Section 10004, or "REGISTRATION FEE ON MOTOR VEHICLES." This amendment states that the federal government will impose annual registration fees of $250 for electric vehicles and $100 for hybrids, which individual states' motor vehicle departments will collect.
Lawmakers like Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), the chairman of the influential Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said after the bill was passed that such a provision would help fund the Highway Trust Fund, the main source of federal highway funding. He argues that as EV ownership increases and drivers adopt more fuel-efficient cars and hybrids, the gas tax could lose its relevance very quickly.
"The bill includes provisions from the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to provide historic investments in the United States Coast Guard to strengthen our national and border security, as well as […] ensuring that electric vehicles begin contributing to the Highway Trust Fund," Graves said.
The Highway Trust Fund is funded in part through the gas tax, which is reflected in the price of gasoline and diesel fuel. Currently, the gas tax is 18.4 cents per gallon of gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon of diesel, a rate that has not been raised since October 1, 1993. Graves originally tabled this provision in the US House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in late April, where it passed and was added onto the "Big Beautiful Bill" after a 36-30 vote.
Graves's proposal in the BBB will impose enforcement responsibility on the states. Specifically, states will be charged 25% on top of the calculated amount of funding they were expected to bring into the Highway Trust Fund if their motor vehicles departments do not collect the respective EV and hybrid fees.
"The Administrator shall withhold, from amounts required to be apportioned to any State under section 104(b), an amount equal to 125 percent to the amount required to be remitted under subsection (c)(2)," the bill says. "The Administrator shall withhold the amount on the first day of each fiscal year beginning after September 30, 2026, in which the State does not meet the requirements of subsection (c)."
This is not the first time that congressional lawmakers have proposed some sort of "fairness" fee targeted at EV owners. In February 2025, Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE) introduced the Fair Sharing of Highways and Roads for Electric Vehicles (Fair SHARE) Act, which would add a $1000 fee to EVs at the time of purchase, aimed at recouping around 10 years' worth of federal gas tax revenue per car.
However, it should be noted that this sort of doctrine has already been enforced at the state level. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), 39 states have a special registration fee for EVs to recuperate lost gas tax funding.
For example, EV drivers in New Jersey, which has reached nearly 200,000 strong as of December 2024, will have to pay a $250 annual electric vehicle fee in addition to their registration fee. This fee will increase by $10 per year for four years and exceed $290 starting in 2028. New Jersey's yearly EV registration tax proceeds will fund the state's trust fund for transportation projects and NJ Transit.
It should be noted that this provision affecting EV and Hybrid drivers is sandwiched in the BBB along with dozens of other amendments affecting critical programs such as Medicaid and SNAP, as well as raising the debt ceiling. According to Politico, several Republican Senators say they'll be making changes to the BBB, as many of the provisions could affect constituents in their states.
Politics aside, looking at the numbers, it is easy to see how the shift from traditional to alternative fuels could upend decades-old rules and legislation, especially regarding the gas tax and the Highway Trust Fund. However, finding a straight-line solution will require a lot of time, work, and understanding of EVs and the needs of EV buyers by our leaders.
Copyright 2025 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Axios
28 minutes ago
- Axios
Trump's command capitalism playbook signals a new economic era
President Trump is rushing toward a new style of economy, with deals that some worry don't look much like the red-blooded capitalism that defines America. Why it matters: In the Trump 2.0 era, the White House routinely makes extraordinary — and in at least one case, unprecedented — interventions in the domestic and global economy, as well as in corporate America. If materialized, the commitments might supercharge economic investment. Longer-term consequences of such a pivot, however, are harder to predict. Driving the news: Semiconductor giants Nvidia and AMD will be able to sell key chips in China, but only after the companies agreed to hand 15% of some of those sales over to the U.S. government. The administration said it would ban exports of Nvidia H20 chip earlier this year, citing national security concerns. The Financial Times, which first reported news of the deal, said the firms would be the first ever to commit a chunk of revenue in exchange for export permissions. What they're saying: "What we are seeing is in effect the monetization of U.S. trade policy in which U.S. companies must pay the U.S. government for permission to export. If that's the case, we've entered into a new and dangerous world," former trade negotiator Stephen Olson told Bloomberg. The big picture: It's the latest deal that demonstrates a firm Trump-shaped imprint on corporate America and the world economy. Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan will be at the White House on Monday, a bid to smooth over tensions with Trump, who said last week the executive "must resign, immediately." The more than $1 trillion investment collectively committed by Europe, Japan and others came as Trump threatened to escalate global trade wars. In the case of Japan, the funds will be distributed "at President Trump's direction," according to a White House fact sheet. Last week, Trump said Apple would be exempt from future chip tariffs because of the company's plans to invest $100 billion in the U.S. over the next five years. (For what it's worth, the upbeat meeting with CEO Tim Cook was cheered by Wall Street — the stock had its best week in five years.) The administration retains a "golden share" in the combined Nippon Steel-U.S. Steel entity, giving the government a say in key corporate decisions. The intrigue: Veteran Wall Street investor Peter Boockvar opened his market memo to clients Monday morning saying his "political head [was] spinning again" after learning about the deal. He added that he prays "for the sake of American free market capitalism and my support and appreciation of low taxes that it stops here." Reality check: To be sure, a tilt in favor of government power and away from free-market orthodoxy has been underway for years. But Trump's moves are the splashiest yet — and unlike years past, receive little public pushback from global leaders and CEOs.
Los Angeles Times
28 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Trump's big bill is powering his mass deportations. Congress is starting to ask questions
WASHINGTON — President Trump's border czar Tom Homan visited Capitol Hill just weeks after Inauguration Day, with other administration officials and a singular message: They needed money for the White House's border security and mass deportation agenda. By summer, Congress delivered. The Republican Party's big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts that Trump signed into law July 4 included what's arguably the biggest boost of funds yet to the Department of Homeland Security — nearly $170 billion, almost double its annual budget. The staggering sum is powering the nation's sweeping new Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, delivering gripping scenes of people being pulled off city streets and from job sites across the nation — the cornerstone of Trump's promise for the largest domestic deportation operation in American history. Homeland Security confirmed over the weekend ICE is working to set up detention sites at certain military bases. 'We're getting them out at record numbers,' Trump said at the White House bill signing ceremony. 'We have an obligation to, and we're doing it.' The crush of new money is setting off alarms in Congress and beyond, raising questions from lawmakers in both major political parties who are expected to provide oversight. The bill text provided general funding categories — almost $30 billion for ICE officers, $45 billion for detention facilities, $10 billion for the office of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — but few policy details or directives. Homeland Security recently announced $50,000 ICE hiring bonuses. And it's not just the big bill's fresh infusion of funds fueling the president's agenda of 1 million deportations a year. In the months since Trump took office, his administration has been shifting as much as $1 billion from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other accounts to pay for immigration enforcement and deportation operations, lawmakers said. 'Your agency is out of control,' Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told Noem during a Senate committee hearing in the spring. The senator warned that Homeland Security would 'go broke' by July. Noem quickly responded that she always lives within her budget. But Murphy said later in a letter to Homeland Security, objecting to its repurposing funds, that ICE was being directed to spend at an 'indefensible and unsustainable rate to build a mass deportation army,' often without approval from Congress. This past week, the new Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Andrew Garbarino of New York, along with a subcommittee chairman, Rep. Michael Guest of Mississippi, requested a briefing from Noem on the border security components of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, or OBBBA, which included $46 billion over the next four years for Trump's long-sought U.S.-Mexico border wall. 'We write today to understand how the Department plans to outlay this funding to deliver a strong and secure homeland for years to come,' the GOP lawmakers said in a letter to the homeland security secretary, noting border apprehensions are at record lows. 'We respectfully request that you provide Committee staff with a briefing on the Department's plan to disburse OBBBA funding,' they wrote, seeking a response by Aug. 22. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to The Associated Press the department is in daily discussions with the committee 'to honor all briefing requests including the spend plan for the funds allocated' through the new law. 'ICE is indeed pursuing all available options to expand bedspace capacity,' she said. 'This process does include housing detainees at certain military bases, including Fort Bliss.' All together, it's what observers on and off Capitol Hill see as a fundamental shift in immigration policy — enabling DHS to reach far beyond the U.S. southern border and deep into communities to conduct raids and stand up detention facilities as holding camps for immigrants. The Defense Department, the Internal Revenue Service and other agencies are being enlisted in what Kathleen Bush-Joseph, an analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, calls a 'whole of government' approach. 'They're orienting this huge shift,' Bush-Joseph said, as deportation enforcement moves 'inward.' The flood of cash comes when Americans' views on immigration are shifting. Polling showed 79% of U.S. adults say immigration is a 'good thing' for the country, having jumped substantially from 64% a year ago, according to Gallup. Only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults say immigration is a bad thing right now. At the same time, Trump's approval rating on immigration has slipped. According to a July AP-NORC poll, 43% of U.S. adults said they approved of his handling of immigration, down slightly from 49% in March. Americans are watching images of often masked officers arresting college students, people at Home Depot lots, parents, workers and a Tunisian musician. Stories abound of people being whisked off to detention facilities, often without allegations of wrongdoing beyond being unauthorized to remain in the U.S. Detention centers are being stood up, from 'Alligator Alcatraz' in Florida to the repurposed federal prison at Leavenworth, Kansas, and the proposed new 'Speedway Slammer' in Indiana. Flights are ferrying migrants not just home or to El Salvador's notorious mega-prison but far away to Africa and beyond. Homan has insisted in recent interviews those being detained and deported are the 'worst of the worst,' and he dismissed as 'garbage' the reports showing many of those being removed have not committed violations beyond their irregular immigration status. 'There's no safe haven here,' Homan said recently outside the White House. 'We're going to do exactly what President Trump has promised the American people he'd do.' Back in February, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the Republican chairman of the Budget Committee, emerged from their private meeting saying Trump administration officials were 'begging for money.' As Graham got to work, Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and a leading deficit hawk, proposed an alternative border package, at $39 billion, a fraction of the size. But Paul's proposal was quickly dismissed. He was among a handful of GOP lawmakers who joined all Democrats in voting against the final tax and spending cuts bill. Mascaro writes for the Associated Press.
Los Angeles Times
28 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
How a shrunken piece of bread explains Bolivia's economic catastrophe ahead of elections
LA PAZ, Bolivia — Juan de Dios Castillo, covered in flour and sweat, pulled a crisp roll from the cooling rack and weighed it on an old metal scale: 2 ounces. That's barely half what it would have been two years ago. Unlike American or European shoppers scrutinizing suspiciously capacious chip bags, Bolivians have no doubt that they're paying the same government-fixed price for a much smaller, lower-quality loaf. For years, you could walk into a government-subsidized bakery like Castillo's anywhere in Bolivia and get a 3.5 ounce roll for 50 centavos (7 U.S. cents), but as a cash crunch cripples flour imports and inflation squeezes budgets, bakers have almost halved the size of their staple bread. Early last year, rolls shrank to 80 grams, then 70, now 60. 'It's like eating a bit of air, a Communion wafer, it doesn't fill you up anymore,' said Rosario Manuelo Chura, 40, dipping some crust into her morning coffee in Bolivia's administrative capital of La Paz. Castillo isn't particularly pleased about it either. Forced to sell his bread far below market price, he's barely breaking even. 'This situation is not sustainable,' he said, slamming the oven door open. Bolivia's many harbingers of havoc ahead of its presidential election on Sunday seem to converge in this shrunken piece of subsidized bread that La Paz residents call 'pan de batalla' — 'battle bread.' The hallowed staple speaks to a state stuck in the past after 20 years under the state-directed economic model of ex-leader Evo Morales, and now struggling to pull itself out of its worst economic crisis in four decades. The right-wing frontrunners, businessman Samuel Doria Medina and former President Jorge 'Tuto' Quiroga, have proposed eliminating the politically combustible subsidies that underwrite Bolivia's social safety net. 'I say this openly, I'll remove subsidies because they're the greatest absurdity,' Doria Medina told The Associated Press this month, referring to the fuel that Bolivia subsidizes to the tune of billions of dollars a year. Legend has it that the battle bread earned its nickname from troop rations in the country's Chaco War against Paraguay in the 1930s. Today, a battle over bread rages within Bolivia, which is running out of hard currency to import wheat because the country grows less than 25% of what it consumes. Struggling to clear a backlog of imports, the government has slowed or in some cases suspended subsidized flour deliveries. Loaves have vanished from shelves and bread lines have started to appear across La Paz. The scarcity of U.S. dollars has also hampered diesel fuel imports, leading to fuel shortages and raising questions about the ability of import-dependent Bolivia to keep subsidizing its staples. Not only do farmers use diesel fuel to power machinery for irrigation, but diesel fuel also contributes to the price of imported foodstuffs. Some two years ago Bolivia had a lower annual inflation rate than Germany. Today it has among the region's highest, with the government reporting consumer prices rose 25% in July from a year earlier. But the price of bread hasn't changed in 17 years. Bolivia imports most of its wheat from Argentina, where prices have increased — along with the value of the Argentine peso — under libertarian President Javier Milei. Bolivia's grain agency, EMAPA, distributes the subsidized flour to bakers at a fixed price while requiring them to sell battle bread for 50 centavos a loaf — about a fifth of what it would cost to bake the same loaf with ingredients bought at retail prices. As the prices of other ingredients climb, many government-subsidized bakeries warn that they are facing bankruptcy. Scores of bakers last month staged a 24-hour strike demanding to sell their bread at market prices. But a quick scan of history from the 1789 French Revolution to 1989 Venezuelan riots underscores why Morales' Movement Toward Socialism party, or MAS, hasn't dared tinker with the agreement. 'When the price of battle bread goes up, that's the day everything collapses,' said Jacobo Choque, 40, an accountant waiting to buy bread rich in butter from a non-subsidized bakery. The line of Bolivians keen to shell out an extra 20 centavos for better-tasting, thicker rolls stretched almost two city blocks. Nearby, cash-strapped customers scoured an open-air market, swarming around one of the few stalls selling battle bread. 'We used to have breakfast with one roll, but now we need two to feel full,' said Carmen Muñoz, 65, fuming as she queued. 'Let's not forget that socialism brought us here.' When commodity prices surged in 2007, Morales, a coca-farming union leader elected the year before to his first of what would be three terms, harnessed revenues from booming natural gas exports to bankroll subsidies for bread and other essentials. But as gas production plummeted about a decade later, MAS dipped into foreign reserves to keep spending. The model became ruinously costly — last year's food and fuel subsidies made up over 4.2% of gross domestic product. With the government unable to pay suppliers on time and trucks trapped in fuel lines, EMAPA's monthly deliveries of milled wheat have hit snags, leaving subsidized bakeries suddenly without flour. Even as bakers eat into their savings to buy other ingredients, the subsidy agreement bars them from sourcing their own flour. 'Rather than helping, subsidies are hurting us,' Castillo said. Some bakers say that EMAPA — long accused of favoring MAS party members — has stopped supplying altogether. EMAPA denies cronyism, saying it has ramped up investigations into reports of bakers reselling subsidized flour at inflated prices on the black market, or trying to pass off rolls baked with low-cost additives like cassava starch. 'In all my 30 years at this market, this is the most stressful,' said Raquel de Quino, a 60-year-old bread vendor who now spends her mornings confronting customers outraged over the shrinkflation and shortages. On Saturday, she asked one angry woman to take her rant to the government — at least for its final week in power. 'I'm just the middleman,' said De Quino, throwing up her hands in exasperation. 'Let's pray to God that under the next government, there will bread for our children.' Debre and Flores write for the Associated Press.
