SecondAttempt
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
I have not seen this topic discussed on E-R since about 2008 so hopefully it is fair game. It was inspired by the carbon tax question but I did not want to usurp that thread.
What should we do about the gas tax given the proliferation of electric vehicles? I don't like taxes any more than the next person but I think gas taxes are probably the best structured. Road users pay taxes to use the roads and to a large extent what they pay is proportional to how many miles hey drive, vehicle weight, and hence damage they cause. Then the money is used substantially for road repairs.
But with EVs paying no taxes to use the roads it seems unfair. I've heard proposals at the state level to use odometer readings on EVs to calulate a tax annualy when registering. I don't think that is a good technical solution because most of the gas tax is federal, it does not solve the bulk of the problem because there is no federal vehicle registration.
So what do we do?
What should we do about the gas tax given the proliferation of electric vehicles? I don't like taxes any more than the next person but I think gas taxes are probably the best structured. Road users pay taxes to use the roads and to a large extent what they pay is proportional to how many miles hey drive, vehicle weight, and hence damage they cause. Then the money is used substantially for road repairs.
But with EVs paying no taxes to use the roads it seems unfair. I've heard proposals at the state level to use odometer readings on EVs to calulate a tax annualy when registering. I don't think that is a good technical solution because most of the gas tax is federal, it does not solve the bulk of the problem because there is no federal vehicle registration.
So what do we do?