Virginia’s policy for funding roadway maintenance and construction — adopting a miscellaneous grab-bag of taxes, fees and fines — is increasingly out of sync with the rest of the country. USA Today reports that early next year, six other states will begin testing a new fund-raising mechanism: charging motorists for the number of miles they drive instead of the amount of gasoline they consume.
Researchers from the University of Iowa Public Policy Center will install computers and satellite equipment in the vehicles of 2,700 volunteers — 450 each from Austin, Baltimore, Boise, San Diego, eastern Iowa and the Research Triangle region of North Carolina.
Over the next two years, the drivers will get sample monthly bills for the number of miles they’ve driven. They can compare what they now pay in gasoline taxes with what they would have paid in per-mile fees.
As Americans embrace hybrid technologies, with electric vehicles and fuel cells looking increasingly likely in the future, there is increasing awareness that the gasoline tax is not a stable long-term revenue source. In other news, USA Today reports:
• Oregon this year finished a year-long experiment that tested a “virtual tollway” system that could eventually replace the state gas tax with a road-user fee. Volunteers drove vehicles equipped with state-installed Global Positioning System (GPS) devices and odometers that kept track of the miles they drove. When they gassed up, the drivers paid for their gas as well as 1.2 cents for each mile driven since their last fill-up; they did not pay the 24-cents-a-gallon state gas tax.
• Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty says part of his state’s plan for dealing with declining gas tax revenues is a mileage tax or fee. He wants a test project this year.
• Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter appointed a 32-member commission in March to explore long-term options, including mileage fees.
Virginia can still do these states one better. Instead of using a Vehicle Miles Driven tax to raise revenue for all types of transportation programs, including new construction, use it to pay for maintenance only. That way, the tax becomes a direct user-pays system. You want to drive? Fine, you need to pay for your car, your gasoline, your insurance, your repairs… and the wear and tear you put on the roads. (There are other mechanisms, as I have discussed ad nauseum, for funding road construction and coping with traffic congestion.)
I don’t see how any rational person can object to such a system, other than the grounds that, “I don’t want to pay, I want someone else to pay. I want a free ride.” Once upon a time, we could afford such an attitude, but we can’t any more.
(Hat tip to Ted McCormack for pointing out the USA Today article.)