There’s plenty of reasons to be excited about the sudden, meteoric rise of EVs and ultra-fuel-efficient hybrids — with gas prices showing no sign of decreasing, fuel supplies showing equally no sign of increasing, and carbon emissions showing the polar opposite of a decrease, we should be thrilled to see momentum building for a drastic change in the way we get from home to work, and everywhere in between.
Still, one glaring question lives amid all the hype and celebration: If the gas tax pays for America’s roads, and that gas tax is already barely covering the costs of said roads, what will happen when more and more drivers start buying less and less gas? We’re already facing a pretty hefty budget dilemma when it comes to infrastructure (and everything else) — and while President Obama has put forth plenty of inspiring plans for infra expansion (including alternatives to road transport, in the form of high-speed rail), he, and the federal government as a whole, have thus far been skimpy on details as far as how to pay for it all.
One could argue that the gas tax is already pretty impotent — it doesn’t even cover the cost of our roads as it is, so why would it matter whether we’re collecting less of it? But ignoring the problem won’t make it go away. As such, we’re glad to see that a few states are beginning to test out alternatives. Like Hawaii, which is reportedly developing a pilot program for a mileage tax. According to Honolulu Civil Beat:
The program would tally the number of miles traveled by particular vehicles and collect payments from their owners. The state would refund fuel taxes paid by those drivers, and could otherwise compensate the participants through a sweepstakes. The bills are light on specifics, and it would be up to the Hawaii Department of Transportation to figure it all out.
Hawaii isn’t the only state warming to this idea: Pilot programs for a “vehicle miles traveled” tax have sprung up in Austin, Texas, Oregon, and Nevada. The downsides: They’re difficult to implement, and require a technological hurdle or two — drivers will have to use a low-tech odometer or a chip will need to be implanted in every car to measure miles traveled. Which presents another problem: chips measuring when and where and how much you drive and reporting those stats to the government could be a violation of your civil liberties, at least, according to the ACLU, which has already opposed Nevada’s mileage tax. Nonetheless, plenty of technology that we already use gathers this data, including EZ Pass and GPS — so why not simply repurpose some of it for the new tax? It’s either that or start paying tolls every time we leave our driveways. Or simply letting our roads continue to sink into disrepair.
Posted on Monday January 31st by Melissa Lafsky
