No More Gas Tax. Instead, Pay by the Mile

Investment in highway infrastructure has been a hot political topic since the tragic Minneapolis bridge collapse, and now researchers at the University of Iowa Public Policy Center have a new idea: Tax by the miles people drive, not the gallons of gas they buy. Some 2,700 people in six states will try out the scheme in 2008 and 2009, with the help of in-car computers and satellite equipment, according to USA Today.

They won't actually pay by the mile, but they'll be able to compare how much they pay in gas taxes to how much they would have paid in a per-mile tax. People hate paying for gasoline, and so gas taxes could typically rival lawyers and (gasp) newspaper men among the most hated elements of American society. Of course, drivers don't particularly love highway and bridge tolls either, and since the stated goal of the per-mile tax is to make up for lost revenue from increased gas mileage, the popularity of this alternate scheme isn't likely to be immediate or easily won.

Some global warming campaigners advocate for steeper taxes on gasoline to account for its true cost -- considering environmental degradation from pollution, or even the cost of war in oil-rich regions. The per-mile tax runs counter to that strategy.

COMMENTS ()