BELLEVUE, Ky. — As more Kentucky drivers get behind the wheel of an electric vehicle, the commonwealth’s road fund is seeing less tax money from gasoline.
It’s why the Commonwealth has two new taxes on EVs: $120 annually (or $60 for hybrids), and $0.03 per kWh at public charging stations.
For The Party Source in Bellevue, it’s a double whammy, says store manager Marty Holland.
“If people are getting less gas, then we get it, but we just feel like this is a very big jump all at once,” he said.
They’ll pay the yearly fee on their Chevrolet Bolt. Because they offer a public charging station, they’ll also face the tax when they charge it.
The beer, wine and spirits store has offered free charging for eight years. When they upgrade their charging station, they’ll have to face the new tax. The manager says they are likely to do away with the free charging.
”We hope that this will be the one and done,” Holland said. “We don't expect it to be.”
The store pays $0.12 per kWh, meaning the commonwealth’s $0.03 per kWh tax is a 25% tax.
EV advocacy non-profit Evolve KY said there’s an easy solution that’s fair to both the state and drivers: exempt the level two chargers from the tax system.
Level Two chargers are slower than the ones that can be found on the side of the highway, the group’s publicity chair Mike Proctor said.
Since the charging tax was meant to capture revenue from out-of-state drivers, he doesn’t oppose the tax on fast chargers: “there’s a lot of revenue there.”
But there is not a lot of revenue on community chargers, Proctor said.
EvolveKY has installed more than 130 chargers throughout Kentucky and Southeast Indiana. Since the new law has gone into affect at the start of 2024, Proctor said the group has found it more difficult to get businesses to take on a public charger.
A typical Level Two charging station at a library or cafe might only generate $4 in taxes each month, Proctor estimated.
Charging station managers need to self-report and send in the tax fees each month.
“This is not a whole lot of money,” Proctor said. “It’s a whole lot of red tape."
But despite the red tape, EVs are still keeping The Party Source in the green. They’re saving $400 per month on gas.
“It's still a great, great value for us,” Holland said.
A spokesperson for the Kentucky House Speaker's Office shared the following statement: "The House Appropriations and Revenue Committee remains focused on crafting the state budget. The committee would be the venue for revenue measures like the tax on electric vehicles enacted to help fund the construction of roads and bridges. However, House and committee leadership continues to monitor how the tax is implemented."
