How do you propose the state charges tax for EVs if not a flat tax, then?
Tax all vehicles based on registered weight, and charge the fee on an annual rather than 4 years upfront basis. It’s really that simple.
All that info is standard online, when you renew your annual registration, auto populate the weight calculation and the driver pays that fee instead of the typical registration fee.
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EVs are heavier than ICE vehicles so they are damaging the roads more. Thus they should pay more.
Y’all should be happy PHEVs aren’t being charged a fee like VA and NC charge.
The science about this is used to mislead by both sides (against pick up trucks and EVs). The fact is neither do significant damage to the road. Semis and other heavy vehicles cause the vast majority of the actual wear and tear.
Funding roads with a gas tax is fine. But we can’t pretend that tax covers the damage a vehicle does to road. Passenger vehicles cause almost no wear and tear.
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In the northeast and other regions that get a real winter there’s other factors at play like the cold and snow itself, as well as the methods used to combat them.
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My question is how will this affect out of state lease who got their car from NJ dealer?
It shouldn’t have any effect, it’s only on NJ registrations.
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Of course. That’s just general road maintenance. A road, even if never driven on, will require some level of maintenance. Especially in colder climates. As I mentioned, if we chose to fund that with a gas tax…fine.
My point was specifically that “heavier” EVs don’t cause materially damage to the road
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How about they don’t tax EV’s or gas cars and they use the hundreds of millions of existing dollars to pay for road maintenance since they already got tax money from me when I made money with income tax and more tax money when I spend the same money that I was already taxed to make 
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Do you want to pay more on state income & property tax? 
I prefer they charge usage tax based on weight of the car + miles driven.
Man, if $250 a year is really making or breaking the bank perhaps a train or bus pass is a better fit.
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The charge should be closer to equivalent of what a gas driver spends per year on the tax - last I saw it was roughly $96 a year, not $180 (plus the normal registration fee). Many many gas vehicles in NJ weigh significantly more than EV’s do.
Secondly the budget also calls for reversal of the sales tax exemption on EV’s.
The budget has not passed yet and probably won’t until sometime in August. They won’t clawback the taxes/fees so there may be a little time.
I’m tempted to just buy an EV and avoid the fiasco altogether for the next few years.
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My state charges $150 extra for EVs per year. It makes sense since the gas tax has to be made up. I don’t see anything wrong with this.
Edit: when I registered my EV the lady at the DMV was almost apologetic and explained it to me like I was a 5 year old. I was like whatever $150 seems reasonable, where do I sign? But from her interaction with me I have to assume most people freak out over it.
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I don’t disagree with this but that’s going to be an interesting discussion at the dealership when someone sees that this car they thought was going to be a money saver starts to look less and less like one before they even get plates on the car. Almost $1,400 to register a car is nuts.
Average car get driven 12k miles. Average mileage is what 25 mpg. That’s 480 gallons. Gas tax in NJ is 42 cents. So that’s $200ish a year.
Umm nope, it’s mild. I doubt it change anything. Plenty of other state have it worse. Come back when NJ start to adopt MD or TX treatment on auto lease.
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Texas is $200/yr EV reg charge over the base tags and your first reg sticker is for two years. It added $400 to initial reg.
I think registration should be paid by mileage. But if it is a flat fee $200 is about right.
Umm, I’m actually trying to point out TX 6.25% tax on the selling price. 
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That’s on any lease though.