re: #249 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

The opening of the article:

If the price of your favorite latte suddenly went up 5,614 percent — say, from $3 to $171.42 — would you still buy it? Probably not. Unless you really like lattes.

Keep that in mind as you ponder state Sen. Martin Sandoval’s plan to raise money for transportation funding in Illinois. The Chicago Democrat’s bill includes proposals to more than double the gas tax to 44 cents a gallon, raise the driver’s license fee to $60 and the standard vehicle registration fee to $148 … and raise the yearly registration fee for electric vehicles from the current $17.50 to $1,000.

That’s right, $1,000. That’s a 5,614 percent increase. And it’s nearly seven times more than the proposed fee for gas-powered vehicles. Sandoval’s thinking: Electric vehicle owners don’t pay a gas tax, so his stratospheric jump in the electric vehicle registration would make those car owners pay their fair share.

What Sandoval’s not thinking about: The massive broadside that his fee would deliver to the electric vehicle market and electric vehicle owners. Far fewer people likely would buy electric vehicles in this state, and people who own them likely would want to unload their EVs.

It really makes sense when you find out he’s the recipient of a lot of $$$$ from the car dealer’s association, who is constantly trying squash Tesla and their sales model.