Several states proposed a new road tax scheme including
Washington, Virginia, New Jersey, Arizona, Texas, Oregon, San Francisco,
Michigan. It seems distance based user charge would be alternative of the
current gas tax in the long run. Because there is no tax on electric vehicles,
the new road tax scheme will be tested on electric vehicles first. Here is
House Bill 2452 which states distance based user charge on electric vehicles in
Oregon.
According to House Bill 2452, the driver of high-mileage
vehicle will pay distance based user charge or flat annual road usage charge
in Oregon. High-mileage motor includes electric vehicles and vehicles that get
55 mpg or better. This bill would be applied for vehicles produced in 2015 or
after.
The distance based user fee will be around 1.56 cents per
mile, and for 15,000 miles electric vehicle drivers would pay $234. This rate
is same with what a regular vehicle drivers pay in gas taxes. Also, there will
be a penalty up to $2,000 for person who reports a false vehicle miles traveled.
There are three options of how to collect a new road tax.
The first option is to use on-board GPS system or cell phone. The downside of
this option is that it is disabled for some situations where a driver
is not a owner of a vehicle for on-board GPS system, or registered drivers take
a public transportation service for cell phone. The second option is an
on-board mileage tracker. It would not record the location of vehicle but
vehicle miles traveled. It can avoid privacy issue, but the records can be
flawed by inability of recognizing between public roads, private land or out of
state. The last alternative is a flat annual fee.
(resources)
1. Antony Ingram, Oregon, Too, Wants To Tax Electric
Cars(And 55-MPG-Plus Cars Too)
2. House Bill 2453
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