Gas tax vs Mileage tax

My largest concern is that we are going to get a mileage tax in addition to the gas tax. I also have a feeling that owning certain cars would get you either a reduction or an exemption from the mileage tax.

If I was in charge of doing a mileage tax I would create a formula based on the weight of the vehicle and the mileage travelled and the owner of the vehicle at year end is responsible for paying (thus it would be baked into the mid-year resale value similar to property taxes with a house). No reductions, eemptions, or special credits.
 
I am strongly against this- although any econ professor would disagree. If the public good is “roads”, and said roads usually require more upkeep based on usage, than the easiest idea is to simply charge those who use, or, by mileage.

First- let’s all agree there is a budget shortage that has nothing to do with the other budget shortage that is discussed ad nausea on other threads. Our transit expenses are not being met with gas taxes and state/Fed budgets- plain and simple.

So, if you want to meet the budgets, you can increase your use of tolls, increase gas taxes, or levy mileage taxes at a rate that matches budgetary needs. What a gas tax accomplishes that a mileage tax does not is that it continually rewards efficiency and faster adoption of technologies that reduce a dependency on a product that we would be wise to diversify further away from.

And, a mileage tax would unfairly burden those from rural communities who must travel more, regardless of their vehicles, than those from more densely populated areas.
 
im not shocked at all that some of this thread think this is a good idea. they completely ignore the fact that these monster trucks are tearing up the roads. why shouldnt i chip in and pay more. lets also ignore the fact that the gas tax money isnt going to pay for the roads.
 
McBrett gas or mileage if you live in a rural area and drive far distances you get taxed more. However if your goal is to get alternative fuels then at some point you are going to have to have an alternative to the gas tax or you are going to increase your budget shortfall from that source over time.

If you want to effect the decisions people make my guess is knowing you pay $0.0X per mile will probably do it quicker than raising the gas tax.
 
since 18 wheelers get about 5 mpg, they are already taxed at 4 times the rate of the avg passenger cars (all numbers are anal estimates).
 
I am working on a project that aims to implement this concept (not in Texas). I believe very strongly that a mileage tax is a fair substitute for the gas tax. It matches road usage with the price users pay, and can more flexibly match revenues with transportation needs. Given the vast differences emerging in vehicle fuel efficiency, it is inevitable that to preserve the fairness of road user taxes and the sustainability/reliability of our transportation budgets we will have to transition away from the gas tax.

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I am for a combination of both. I agree with your earlier comments mcbrett however I would say if you do a mileage tax then you should get to waive a % of the miles used for your work commute, but only up to a point. Thus if you live in Austin and work in SA then you won't get full reimbursement. I would say cap reimbursement at 60 miles round trip but that is just a # thrown off the top of my head.
 
since 18 wheelers get about 5 mpg, they are already taxed at 4 times the rate of the avg passenger cars
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they also cause about 10 times the damage to the roads.
 
I too am concerned about the effect that such a tax would have on the poor and people in rural areas (who often are poorer). I do realise that they are already paying more in taxes given the current gas tax structure.
I would almost like to see a higher gas tax than a milage tax, because I truly believe both parties would do this in ADDITION to, not instead of a gas tax.
Also, there are some comments on here that speak negatively to toll roads. Isn't the concept of toll roads similar to milage taxes in that the people who use pay?
Infrastructure is expensive, and we need to find ways to pay for the needed upgrades. That being said, I am going to outline some simple ideas for Texas as a basic outline.

1) Get the federal budget and entitlement expenditures under control. This is a necessary first step to being able to have funds for infrastructure.
2) Build highspeed rail between Metroplex down through Austin to SA, and then over to Houston. Southwest Airlines will hate this, but it is in the right thing to do for the future of transportation in the state.
3)Build a toll road along side or in conjunction with I35. This is NOT the TCC. I am not talking about a foreign company running anything, nor a massive land grab. Demographers say that Laredo and Kansas City are part of the same urban area. I35 has become one massive city... We must have more capacity to move goods and people up and down between these major urban areas.

The one HUGE piece I am missing is in this area of raising funds. Toll roads are not enough. We need some form of higher revenues towards infrastructure as well. I would like to see a higher gas tax. I think in Texas it is about 38 cents a gallon. I would like to see it go to about 50 cents a gallon. This should go a far way towards funding, in addition to toll roads, and also revenues from rail.
 
I am against penalizing those who live in the burbs and have to drive more. It just smacks of central planning and forces people into denser population centers.
 
This is insane bureaucratic BS. We already have a tax on driving in the excessive gasoline tax. Why double that up? Insane.
 
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