Saskatchewan adds $150 tax on EVs that contributes to road maintenance

The province of Saskatchewan is making it more expensive for people to own electric vehicles (EVs) in the province.

After not providing a provincial EV incentive or rebates like the federal government or other provinces like Quebec and B.C, Saskatchewan is adding a $150 yearly tax to EV owners to help pay for road maintenance. The province’s fuel tax is primarily used as a way for drivers to pay for road maintenance. This new EV tax levels the playing field.

CBC News reports that Saskatchewan received about $454 million from the fuel tax last year and spent $616 million on road work.

To be fair, this tax does make sense since the budget for roads needs to come from somewhere. However, looking at the bigger picture, it seems strange there would be an added cost to EV owners when other provinces are trying to convince people to adopt greener forms of transportation.

A blog called SaskEV claims that there are only 403 EV drivers in the province, accounting for less than one percent of the total cars that use Saskatchewan’s roads every day.

This annual tax will begin on October 1st, 2021.

Source: CBC News