Massachusetts Wants Drivers to Pay More For SUV Registration

How else could you cope with the economic recession if not by getting more money from the drivers? This is exactly the case of Massachusetts, the state of whose Governor Deval Patrick is now backing a proposal to increase registration fees for SUVs. Obviously, such a proposal caused quite a stir among automakers and SUV owners, motorauthority.com writes, since they would be the first affected by such a law. However, officials haven't announced yet how much money they plan to demand for new SUV registrations.

But the new fees would vary by fuel efficiency and CO2 emissions, officials explained, with incentives offered to those buying a less-polluting model. This results in higher fees for older models that are obviously less-efficient than new ones benefiting from incentives, the aforementioned source wrote.

"It's a penalty for driving an SUV, which currently is not the popular choice. Or you're being penalized for a lifestyle choice, or maybe the fact that you have a large family and you need that size vehicle to put them in and it just doesn't seem fair," Norwood, MA Cadillac Hummer Saab Village dealer Tim Lerchenfeldt told Fox News, explaining that such a tax would only affect the already recession-hit SUV class.

In addition to the aforementioned fees increase, the state may also raise the gasoline tax by 19 percent to 60 cents per gallon. California and New York have already approved similar taxes increases in gasoline to fund certain infrastructures across the respective states.

If approved, Massachusetts will become the first state that applies the so-called Hummer Tax which requires SUV owners to pay more money for registration.