The Washington State House Transportation Committee voted 20-4 on Wednesday in favor of HB 2563. This bill would extend the Washington State EV sales tax exemption until June 2021 and eliminate the vehicle limit. It is currently limited to 7500 cars.

The current EV sales tax exemption, which began in July 2016, exempts purchasers of alternative fuel vehicles, including electric vehicles, from having to pay sales tax for the first $32,000 of the purchase price or the total lease payments made plus the purchase price of the leased vehicle. The State sales tax for Washington is currently 6.5%.

One of the sponsors of the bill, Representative Orcutt, spoke preceding the vote, stating that the current tax exemption began with a study a few years back to see if there could be a business case for EV charging stations to be set up by the private sector. They found that there would need to be more electric cars on the road to support such enterprise. The original bill was originally intended to extend until 2019 but was amended at the time.

He went on to state that to be successful in accomplishing the original purpose of trying to get the private sector to take over charging stations, more EVs need to be on the road. And since the original report found that somewhere around 2022, the price of an EV would equal the price of a gasoline car, the incentive would no longer be needed past 2022.

You can view his entire comments and the subcommittee vote here.

After passing the vote by the House Transportation Committee, the bill will now be sent to the greater House with a “do pass” recommendation. If the House approves it, it will be sent to the Senate for a vote and if passes, sent to the Governor to sign.

The bill is supported by the governor and has bi-partisan sponsorship.