We’re getting there already.
- State and federal government use taxes on gasoline and diesel to pay for highway maintenance.
- Local drivers buy gas locally and pay for local highway maintenance.
- Long-distance drivers buying fuel away from their home state pay for that state’s maintenance on the highways they use.
That was a reasonable and generally accepted way of paying for road maintenance.
Enter, the electric car.
They don’t buy fuel (directly), so they don’t pay highway taxes.
As electric cars become more and more popular, highway fuel tax revenue has started dropping. States are facing budget shortfalls (exacerbated by more fuel-efficient cars overall).
The solution? A per-mile highway tax.
Bu most politicians fear imposing such a tax just because it’s a new tax. And unlike fuel taxes that are baked into the price-per-gallon, a mileage tax would be highly visible, likely appearing as a bill in the mail or annual registration fee.
But what’s not really being discussed is how those miles would be counted. A simple number is not sufficient - states would want to charge out-of-state drivers (just like they currently do when long-distance drivers buy fuel far from home). This means tracking where every registered vehicle has been.
An additional tax and Big Brother surveillance? That’s a tough sell for even the best politician.