I wonder why they are giving this a whirl (besides the fact that Democrats just love to tax citizens)? (via Climate Change Dispatch)
Michigan pay-per-mile pilot program: What to know
Michigan is looking at ways to make up declining transportation revenue as vehicles become more fuel efficient and electric vehicles become more prevalent.
The state is exploring a road user charge program, also known as pay-per-mile. Here’s what to know:
The backstory: Michigan taxes drivers at the gas pump and relies on that revenue to build and maintain the state’s roads, bridges and tunnels.
The state changed how fuel is taxed in Michigan at the beginning of the year. Michigan drivers used to pay 6% sales tax in addition to a 31 cents per gallon motor fuel tax.
By the numbers: Currently, Michigan drivers do not pay sales tax on fuel and pay a motor fuel tax of 52.4 cents per gallon.
But, you know, you had that huge push for EVs
Big picture view: A road user charge is an alternative way to charge drivers to use the roads. Under the program, drivers of all vehicles pay a flat fee of a few cents for each mile driven instead of paying state fuel taxes.
So, they are going to nail everyone. They are also raising the registration fees for EVs AND hybrids because of the loss of revenue. This is not the first time we’ve seen this. During the Obama years he forced a much higher CAFE standard, so, gas revenues went down. So, states raised taxes. Now we had Biden, Newsom, Whitmer, and more Democrats pushing the EVs, and then going “whoops, the money is drying up, let’s tax the peasants.”
How it works : Your driving data could be reported to the state in a variety of ways, including:
- Plug-in devices
- Smartphone apps
- Self-reporting via vehicle factory settings
- Self-reporting via manual data
Yeah, and you can bet that it will soon be mandatory.
In the end, the only way to pay-per-mile driven is to track every vehicle on the roads.
I actually have no problem with the concept of pay-by-the-mile, because it’s a fee-for-service system, but I absolutely do have a problem with the government tracking your every movement, and that’s to what it will eventually come.
Pay by the mile with multipliers for heavier vehicles is already the system we use. Gasoline taxes does this.
It’s funny how governments are switching from subsidizing EV use to taxing it. Al.ost as if they never really cared about the social benefits of lower carbon footprints. Or maybe they finally accepted that charging your EV from the local power station was never carbon neutral in the first place.
Let’s not limit this great idea to cars. Tax everyone else who “shares the road”. They can use the GPS on everyone’s phones to assess bicycle taxes for road use.