Washington State Department of Transportation is considering an alternative to the gasoline tax, shifting to a road usage fee based on miles driven. Why? For the driver, the change is reduced gas fees based on increased miles per gallon and the potential adoption of electric vehicles. None of us are going anywhere without a healthy transportation system. But a usage fee will be expensive and cumbersome; either we have annual odometer inspections or new invasive hardware in our vehicles.
Increasing the gas tax is a simpler and fair solution that also promotes high-mileage transit. Consider the math: Say you buy 10 gallons of fuel at $3 a gallon, for total of $30. (Current state tax is 37.5 cents per gallon.) Now say that you upgrade to a vehicle that doubles your mileage, and to achieve parity with transportation costs, the state doubles the gas tax. Your weekly gas bill would be $16.88 (five gallons at $3.375). You still save 44 percent, an impressive incentive to opt for a vehicle that delivers fuel economy.
Consider a usage fee. No fuel-efficiency incentive. A truck pays the same fee as a car. That’s unfair because the heavier the vehicle, the more road wear. Other ways to assure electric vehicles pay their “fare” share is to charge a higher annual registration fee or add a “gas tax” to public charging stations.
Let’s make smart choices that keep Washington moving and don’t compromise our long-term economic and national security.
