Goodbye gas tax. Hello Road User Charge (RUC), also known as Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT)

Greaser · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Goodbye gas tax. Hello Road User Charge (RUC), also known as Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT)

65Camino · Uber Guru

Thats great. Itll be good for us driving old cars.

see2xu · Addicted!

Fuel taxes have been a pretty good surrogate for "road use", until the electrification surge began. We can argue the politics all day long, but someone has to pay to build, maintain, and plough the roads. There's a good argument for the "who uses them the most" approach. Giving Tesla owners a free pass, and punishing those with ICEs, will work for a while, but the cost of keeping the highways and biways in serviceable condition won't change, while the revenues from the discriminated-against vehicles plummets, so something else has to take the place of the old model.

I have a buddy who is a Tennessee resident, because of zero income tax. The State funds itself from property, sales, fuel, and "sin tax" revenues. When he went to renew the registration on his Model S, he got nailed with a huge "road use" fee. The wise men & women in Nashville have figured it out.

Prefectca · Poncho Master!

I can see the government adding the vehicle mileage tax and leaving the road portion of the fuel tax also.

Paul

65Camino · Uber Guru

It will be interesting. My car uses lots of gas. But my neighbour Teslas doesnt. He drives the cars way more then me.

66 Beau · Poncho Master!

Im willing to bet that no government is ever going to reduce the tax on gas & diesel. Road use or mileage taxes will just be added on top.

r66sd · Addicted!

Here in Victoria BC the municipalities are spending like crazy putting in bicycle lanes, and reducing the road lane size in each direction. The bikes use the road and are not insured, and pay nothing for gas, or anything towards road maintenance. I would love to see a road use tax if it would make them pay their share. I have had two incidents where a cyclist has hit and damaged my vehicle with no insurance to cover my damages.

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

r66sd wrote:
I have had two incidents where a cyclist has hit and damaged my vehicle with no insurance to cover my damages.

That's where you sue the offender.

rebelrouser · Poncho Master!

seventy2plus2 wrote:

r66sd wrote:
I have had two incidents where a cyclist has hit and damaged my vehicle with no insurance to cover my damages.
That's where you sue the offender.

They need to bring back plating bicycles like in the '70's. They are taking over the roads with zero consequence if they hit something/someone. I have no problem with it, just make them accountable as if they are driving their cars. Also they aren't contributing to the upkeep/maintenance of the roads they ride on.

66 Beau · Poncho Master!

The proliferation of eBikes (everything from electric pedal-assist to full blown electric motorcycles that somehow slip under the definition of a bicycle), licensing of both the bicycle and the rider is overdue. Insurance too. Plus, more control over where these things can operate. I've seen scooters (electric AND internal combustion scooters with (presumably) less than 50 cc engines), eBikes and even what look like full blown electric motorbikes jumping back and forth between sidewalks, roads, bicycle lanes etc. No helmets, no license, no accountability, the riders assume they have the right of way wherever they go and traffic laws don't apply to them.

Too bad, because these two wheeled electric vehicles have the potential of taking a lot of cars off the road and a lot of pollution out of the air (typed as I hide out in the house away from the thick smoke from forest fires during the hottest year on record).