Why Americans will soon pay more to drive every mile

[EdmondLeaf]

The financial lookouts who toil in America's transportation departments have been waving red flags for years that there wasn't enough money to keep the nation's 4 million miles of roads and bridges drivable. Now the federal government's top accountant has told Congress it should experiment with taxing drivers by the mile to make up billions of dollars in shortfalls. The debate isn't whether you'll pay more to drive in the future, but how you'll pay — and how much.

http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/why-americans-soon-pay-more-drive-every-mile-235604924.html
according to stat 4c/mile driven is needed to cover road maintenance cost

 

[Stoaty]

The financial lookouts who toil in America's transportation departments have been waving red flags for years that there wasn't enough money to keep the nation's 4 million miles of roads and bridges drivable. Now the federal government's top accountant has told Congress it should experiment with taxing drivers by the mile to make up billions of dollars in shortfalls. The debate isn't whether you'll pay more to drive in the future, but how you'll pay — and how much.

http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/why-americans-soon-pay-more-drive-every-mile-235604924.html

I think charging by the mile is fine, as long as they charge by the amount of damage a vehicle does to the road, which means the big SUV would pay more, and the large trucks would be paying some very hefty fees. Might make shipping by rail more attractive, which would be good because rail is much more energy efficient.

 

[TomT]

Remember that most EVs are relatively heavy too...

I think charging by the mile is fine, as long as they charge by the amount of damage a vehicle does to the road, which means the big SUV would pay more, and the large trucks would be paying some very hefty fees.

 

[evnow]

The money collected in gax taxes is wholly inadequate to maintain the infrastructure. That is the reason we have toll roads and crumbling bridges. When they need to replace bridges (or eleveated highways as is the case in Seattle) they have to impose extra special taxes.

I think the best option is do away with this facade of gas taxes as a means of maintaining roads and get it out of general budget, since the politicians are too afraid to raise taxes to do the needful.

 

[Nubo]

A couple of problems with per-mile taxing.

First, can they effectively win the electronic arms race that will occur? There are many people who deliberately remove catalytic converters,etc, just for a few horsepower. If saving big money is as simple as hacking a black box system, you can bet it will be rampant.

Second, even for the honest folk, budgeting for periodic road tax is not something that will come easily. At least gasoline tax is pay-as-you-go in that regard.

Truthfully I think roads should be paid for out of general funds. Everyone depends on roads even if they don't drive.

 

[evnow]

Remember that most EVs are relatively heavy too...

I think charging by the mile is fine, as long as they charge by the amount of damage a vehicle does to the road, which means the big SUV would pay more, and the large trucks would be paying some very hefty fees.

But regen will do less damage to roads. Anyway, most damage to roads is done by trucks (and rains).

 

[TomT]

Braking is braking and I see no reason to believe that regen is any different than friction brakes in terms of road damage... But I definitely agree on the latter.

But regen will do less damage to roads. Anyway, most damage to roads is done by trucks (and rains).

 

[Stoaty]

According to a GAO study, "Excessive Truck Weight: An Expensive Burden We Can No Longer Afford", road damage from one 18-wheeler is equivalent to 9600 cars (p.23 of study, p.36 of PDF).

The study assumed a fully loaded tractor-trailer at 80,000 pounds, and a typical passenger car at 4,000 pounds. That’s 20 times difference in weight, but the wear and tear caused by the truck is exponentially greater.

http://www.vabike.org/vehicle-weight-and-road-damage/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[KeiJidosha]

Toll road collection infrastructure is expensive in cost and time. Better to pay by the odometer mile using MGVW weight multiplier as part of vehicle registration based on mileage reported annually and at transfer.

 

[adric22]

Perhaps making all roads toll roads is the answer? With the electronic systems they have now, I could see those coming down in price if they started putting them on all roads. That way there is no question how many miles the vehicle has driven even if the odometer is faulty or tampered with. Not only that, but some roads can charge more than others. This would have the added bonus that it encourages the city to build more roads if they know they will get more income as a result of the new roads.

 

[evnow]

Perhaps making all roads toll roads is the answer? With the electronic systems they have now, I could see those coming down in price if they started putting them on all roads. That way there is no question how many miles the vehicle has driven even if the odometer is faulty or tampered with. Not only that, but some roads can charge more than others. This would have the added bonus that it encourages the city to build more roads if they know they will get more income as a result of the new roads.

I don't think this is the right public policy in the long run. We need more public transport.

 

[Herm]

Charge everyone a certain amount per mile and assume everyone drives 12k miles a year.. if you protest then install (at your own expense) a black box.. it does not need GPS since all the mileage stuff is in the canbus.

 

[evnow]

Charge everyone a certain amount per mile and assume everyone drives 12k miles a year.. if you protest then install (at your own expense) a black box.. it does not need GPS since all the mileage stuff is in the canbus.

What Seattle EV association suggested was to use the odo reading during emission checks. No need for any high tech gadget.

 

[LEAFer]

... emission checks.

:?: :?: :?:

:lol: And your solution for BEVs ?

 

[smkettner]

Just raise the gas tax already

 

[TickTock]

per-wheel, per-mile tax for road maintenance (transportation costs will trickle down to those who benefit from it)
divert all existing gas tax to smog cleanup and/or solar/wind installations

capitalism works if you let it

 

[AndyH]

... emission checks.

:?: :?: :?:

:lol: And your solution for BEVs ?

The same thing - an annual check, no exhaust pipe required.

Texas has annual vehicle inspections state-wide, while only air quality non-attainment areas add emissions checks. My electric motorcycle has an annual visit where the mileage is logged, even though new inspectors have trouble finding the gas cap.

 

[cwerdna]

Just raise the gas tax already

Yep. I dislike straight taxing per mile because it discourages people from driving and buying more efficient vehicles. And, there's the issue of people racking up miles out of state and potential privacy implications if GPS is used (esp. if there's a security breach at wherever the data's stored/collected).

 

[GeekEV]

Anyway, most damage to roads is done by trucks (and rains).

On one of our recent EAA meets at the UC Davis pavement research center, the presenter indicated that cars were an almost insignificant percentage of the damage compared to the trucks (semis). So, yeah...

 

[Smidge204]

Just raise the gas tax already

While I think gasoline taxes should be a bit higher just to cover the hidden costs of acquiring and burning them, please do be aware that the gasoline tax is extremely regressive and hurts the lowest income people the most. The kind of people who are lucky to afford a used beater just to get to work, and likely couldn't afford an EV or any other type of new, fuel efficient vehicle.

The gasoline tax is just a proxy for road usage anyway. As stated by others, most if not all road vehicles are subject to annual safety inspection, or at the very least semi-annual registration. Payments of mileage tax can be made in installments. I've previously endorsed the idea that, if you live in a state with mandatory liability insurance, the payments for road usage can be rolled into the insurance payments.

Institute a tax based on mileage and vehicle weight. Keep the gasoline tax as a form of hydrocarbon tax.

We could also divert some of that new money into public transport infrastructure, which reduces the demand for private vehicle ownership and thereby reduces road wear and congestion.
=Smidge=