Mileage based road use taxes

Semis and large trucks cause far more wear and tear on roads than personal cars. I thought they paid there fair share or more if fuel road taxes, but evidently not? EVs should pay toward roads, but maybe not where the real problem lies?


 

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Semis and large trucks cause far more wear and tear on roads than personal cars. I thought they paid there fair share or more if fuel road taxes, but evidently not?
Consider, though, that they also contribute more to the economy than personal cars.

No matter how I look at it, I just can't reconcile the idea of pay-as-you-go taxes on critical infrastructure. Transportation is the foundation of our whole economy.
 
In trying to figure out what the motor fuel taxes are in Illinois, I found a link to a spreadsheet maintained by the US Energy Information Administration of the fuel taxes for every state. It was updated in January, 2025 so it's very current.

In Illinois, we pay $0.845 per gallon for regular gas and $0.98 per gallon of diesel. Wow! Note that Illinois is one of the states that applies sales tax to motor fuels and there are some tweaks around the sales tax rate based on the percentage of ethanol or bio diesel in the fuel, but the differences are pretty small.

Last year I spent $1040 on motor fuel. At current pump prices, that means I paid roughly $300 in motor fuel taxes last year. On top of that, I paid $302 to register two cars for a fuzzy estimate of $600 in total "auto" taxes. But, it doesn't end there. Illinois also has tollways, mostly around Chicago. The best way to get to O'hare for me is to use I294, which is a toll road. It cost me $1.80 each way to get to the airport. That's not much for someone who's only driving on that road 3 or 4 times a year, but I'd rather not have a daily commute on a toll road. I will say that they are making massive upgrades to I294, which I assume having access to user fees in the form of tolls is paying for.

To the OP's original question, I do not have a suggestion for how to charge EVs a road use tax that is mileage based but I do see the need for some type of use tax for non-ICE vehicles. Illinois pops them an extra $100 a year, but considering how little this old guy drives in retirement, that number appears to be pretty low based on my admittedly fuzzy math above.
 
No matter how I look at it, I just can't reconcile the idea of pay-as-you-go taxes on critical infrastructure. Transportation is the foundation of our whole economy.
Road taxes in the cross hairs? Forest for the trees?

Your legislators have made sure you have MANY, MANY smaller taxes and fees so you won't see what you really pay all in one place, that's why they do it. Kinda like subscriptions, individually they seem cheap, and providers can count on most users never adding them all up - and that's proven to be effective for most consumers and taxpayers. And when you question it, they say you should only pay those applicable to you, which is a largely a dodge. While partially true, many of them apply to all of us, yet they're broken up into smaller chunks so you don't notice.

If your federal income taxes included income plus sin taxes (luxury, alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, gambling), fuel taxes, inheritance, FICA-SS-Medicare plus others *** below where applicable - you'd realize how much Congress is really taxing you.

If your state/local income taxes included income (many states) plus, sin taxes, property, sales tax, license/registration fees, fuel taxes, travel/hotel/restaurant taxes, VAT (some states) plus others *** below where applicable - you’d realize how much your state/locals are really taxing you. [I chuckle when I see people use ‘no state income tax’ as a reason to move to their state. You are making up all or part of the difference in higher sales, property, fuel and/or other taxes and fees.]

Same with Corporate taxes and fees.

*** Not to mention road & bridge tolls, TV/Satellite/Cable fees, telephone fees, utility fees, gift taxes, marriage licenses, hunting licenses, fishing licenses, bike licenses, dog permits, state park permits, watercraft registration and fees, sports stadium taxes, bike/nature trail fees, court case filing fees, retirement account early withdrawal fees, health insurance mandates, plastic surgery surcharges, soda/fatty food taxes, air transportation taxes, eFiling fees, passport fees, luxury/gas guzzler fees, new car surcharges, yacht taxes, jewelry taxes, waste management taxes, state/local school taxes and others...

Go ahead, add them all up!
 
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I don't know how it is in other states, but in Washington the law demands that all gasoline taxes for cars go to roads and highways. Lately, that has been interpreted to also include ferry boats and busses.
 
There is a difference based on which state one lives in. Some states are higher tax places with presumably more services and features; others are lower tax places with less services and features.

I think I'm pretty lucky when it comes to taxes. It helps that I don't spend on much or buy much.

Road taxes in the cross hairs? Forest for the trees?

Your legislators have made sure you have MANY, MANY smaller taxes and fees so you won't see what you really pay all in one place, that's why they do it. Kinda like subscriptions, individually they seem cheap, and providers can count on most users never adding them all up - and that's proven to be effective for most consumers and taxpayers. And when you question it, they say you should only pay those applicable to you, which is a largely a dodge. While partially true, many of them apply to all of us, yet they're broken up into smaller chunks so you don't notice.
Agreed.

If your federal income taxes included income plus sin taxes (luxury, alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, gambling), fuel taxes, inheritance, FICA-SS-Medicare plus others below where applicable - you'd realize how much Congress is taxing you.

Federal income taxes were $4388 for 2024. Would have been $1264 without the voluntary Roth conversions I did.

I don't do luxury, alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, or gamble, so my taxes there are $0. I guess the feds haven't figured out how to tax my particular sins.

I bought about 383 gallons of fuel in the last 12 months, which translates to $70 in federal fuel taxes.

I don't think my estate will pay an inheritance tax, although I have to work to try to dodge it, which I consider a tax on my time and effort.

FICA/SS/Medicare are included in the federal income tax number above. I have SE income but no W-2 wages, so I pay them with my income tax return via Schedule SE.

If your state/local income taxes included income (many states) plus, sin taxes, property, sales tax, license/registration fees, fuel taxes, travel/hotel/restaurant taxes, VAT (some states) plus others below where applicable.

State income taxes for 2024 aren't done yet, but should be less than $2,000.

Property tax on my home is $1,540.

Sales tax is hard to figure. I took my total expenses and subtracted out taxes, college withdrawals, and charity. Assuming the rest was all spent on goods, my state sales tax would be $2,619. This ignores the fact that my state does not tax services, so the real total is less.

I don't view license/registration fees as a tax, but rather the cost of a government provided service. But if you want to, mine was $77 this year.

State fuel taxes are $123.

Travel and hotel taxes are hard to figure. I'm going on a cruise and the taxes are included in the price, which is also pretty typical of hotel taxes. A SWAG of 10% of my vacation costs over the past 12 months would put it at about $710.

I don't know what a restaurant tax is. I pay sales tax at a restaurant, but that's included above.

Same with Corporate taxes and fees.

I have no idea how to calculate this but I think this is actually the largest source of taxes in my life. It reduces my investment returns and I also pay them when I buy anything from a corporation, because they embed their taxes and fees in the price of the good and service.

Not to mention road & bridge tolls, TV/Satellite/Cable fees, telephone fees, utility fees, gift taxes, marriage licenses, hunting licenses, fishing licenses, bike licenses, dog permits, state park permits, watercraft registration and fees, sports stadium taxes, bike/nature trail fees, court case filing fees, retirement account early withdrawal fees, health insurance mandates, plastic surgery surcharges, soda/fatty food taxes, air transportation taxes, eFiling fees, passport fees, luxury/gas guzzler fees, new car surcharges, yacht taxes, jewelry taxes, waste management taxes, state/local school taxes and others...

No road or bridge tolls in my state.

Don't have satellite or cable. TV is not taxed.

Cell phone is taxed at $22 per year.

I checked my top four utility bills and none of them include any additional taxes. However, I'm sure they are embedded in there in the same way corporate taxes are as alluded to above.

I don't pay gift taxes.

Marriage license was $28 in 1991.

I don't hunt, fish, or have a dog. Bikes are not taxed around here (other than sales tax when you buy them, already included above).

Paid a $5 entry fee to visit a state park. Don't own a watercraft. No publicly supported sports stadiums in my state.

No trail fees here. Haven't filed a court case lately so that doesn't apply.

I don't pay any early withdrawal fees, but again that's something like the estate tax that I have to work to avoid.

There is currently no health insurance mandate either at the federal or state level.

No plastic surgery. There are no fatty food or soda taxes here.

Air transportation taxes already included in the travel category SWAG earlier.

I don't pay e-filing fees, but those typically are paid to private companies, not the government.

I got my passport in 2022 and I think the cost was about $200. I view this as a fee for a government provided service, not a tax.

No luxury/gas guzzler taxes here. There is sales tax on a new car, but that's included in sales taxes above, and I haven't bought a new car lately.

No yacht or jewelry taxes here either, again other than sales taxes.

Waste management taxes are included under the utilities discussion above.

State and local school taxes are paid via a combination of state income and state property taxes which have already been calculated.

Go ahead, add them all up!

$11,477 if I did the math right, which includes the full federal income tax bill but excludes the marriage license and the passport and the car registration.

You're right, that's more than I thought. But still only about 17% of my spending, which is probably better than what my taxes would be in Europe.

Also, the big four (federal income, state income, property, and sales tax) are just under 92% of the total taxes and the first three of those are readily identified and obvious. So in my case, the taxes aren't very hidden or dispersed; maybe I'm unusual.

Interesting exercise.
 
With any luck, the feds cease their road tax and spending entirely. The interstates are built and paid. Hand it off to the states entirely.

There are many replacements for gas tax. I like variable tolling charges which include the value of getting somewhere on time, not just purchase/repair/maintenance.

Some states are experimenting with fully automated MBUF, some with flat rates per tag, some with much higher trucking charges which are already automated to subsidize cars... I don't think there is just one right answer here.

Vermont seems to pay for its roads with tickets on NY, MA, and CT tags.
I expect at least a decade to pass in shakedown and evaluation of various fee/tax MBUF before consensus of common methods is arrived at.
 
Your legislators have made sure you have MANY, MANY smaller taxes and fees so you won't see what you really pay all in one place, that's why they do it.
Good point. I have a theory on how to fix this problem.

Add up all the taxes and fees we pay to the various levels of government over the year. Sales tax, income tax, fuel tax, registration fees, property tax, the works.

Send everyone one total bill, once a year.

On the day before election day.
 
Let's face it folks, we are all taxed to death. Now if you live in England, it can be worse (or at least it used to be).
 
In the most general terms, I like the idea of paying for what I use. Yes, everyone benefits from roads whether they use them or not but those things they buy which are transported over the roads contain the taxes (passed on by vendors, producers, etc.)

If I drive 3000 miles a year, I don't mind paying to keep the roads fixed by gas tax on 120 gallons of gas. I just do NOT want a single cent of that to go to anything else (not even "transportation" related). I really hate when gummint wants to change "my" behavior by using my gas tax to subsidize rail or bus or bike lanes, etc. YMMV
 
If I drive 3000 miles a year,
Wow! Why have a car if you are going to only drive a very small amount? You are easily paying $1.00/mile! Uber is your friend!

I drove 19,500 miles this last year (Feb 2024 - Feb 2025) and took one trip of 1,200 miles in those miles. And, this year, with my trip to NC/PA/CT planned, I'll probably drive 24,000 miles this year. My car is my freedom! :cool:
 
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Wow! Why have a car if you are going to only drive a very small amount? You are easily paying $1.00/mile! Uber is your friend!

I drove 19,500 miles this last year (Feb 2024 - Feb 2025) and took one trip of 1,200 miles in those miles. And, this year, with my trip to NC/PA/CT planned, I'll probably drive 24,000 miles this year. My car is my freedom! :cool:
If I were going to kick myself for driving in the Islands it would because I don't, instead, take THE BUS (that's the name of our bus system.) THE BUS goes virtually every place on the Island and it's ridiculously inexpensive for Seniors. I'm thinking maybe $100 for a yearly pass. (For "regular" fare, I think it's $3.50 and that's with "infinite" transfers as long as you're going one direction.)

Uber and cabs are pretty expensive from what I hear and not as reliable as self-drive from what I hear.

You mention "Freedom" that a car gives you. I totally agree. That's why I'm willing to pay $1/mile - and that sounds about right. Any time, day or night, I can jump in the car and go. I don't have to call anyone and I don't have to worry if they will show up or if they will try to gauge me for "special" Uber fees, etc. I just go. That's worth a lot.

AND, when you think about it, because I drive so few miles, even at $1/mile, I pay (what?) $3000/year for tanspo? I suspect you pay a bit more because at $0.60/mile, and 24,000 miles that comes out to (what?) $14K!! Yikes.
 
Federal, state, and local spending to build and/or maintain “roads” was $270B in 2022.
 
Federal, state, and local spending to build and/or maintain “roads” was $270B in 2022.
I found a site that says USA drives 3.2 trillion miles per year. If my math is correct, that's about 12 cents per mile based on your figures. Most of that is likely repairs.
 
If I were going to kick myself for driving in the Islands it would because I don't, instead, take THE BUS (that's the name of our bus system.) THE BUS goes virtually every place on the Island and it's ridiculously inexpensive for Seniors. I'm thinking maybe $100 for a yearly pass. (For "regular" fare, I think it's $3.50 and that's with "infinite" transfers as long as you're going one direction.)

Uber and cabs are pretty expensive from what I hear and not as reliable as self-drive from what I hear.

You mention "Freedom" that a car gives you. I totally agree. That's why I'm willing to pay $1/mile - and that sounds about right. Any time, day or night, I can jump in the car and go. I don't have to call anyone and I don't have to worry if they will show up or if they will try to gauge me for "special" Uber fees, etc. I just go. That's worth a lot.

AND, when you think about it, because I drive so few miles, even at $1/mile, I pay (what?) $3000/year for tanspo? I suspect you pay a bit more because at $0.60/mile, and 24,000 miles that comes out to (what?) $14K!! Yikes.
Yeah freedom for me is costly, but if I don't spend the money someone else will someday. And I do travel by car a lot and I'm glad I don't have to rely on anyone else dragging me around. Where I live there is no bus line. And if we did have a bus line, I doubt it would take me to my golf course or to visit friends 20 miles away.
 
And if we did have a bus line, I doubt it would take me to my golf course or to visit friends 20 miles away.
I think this is the piece that most people who advocate eliminating cars don't grasp.

Our whole society has been built around private transportation. We simply don't all live near a bus or train station, and there's no way a bus or train could replicate the car's ability go anywhere, from anywhere.

Now, you could advocate that we all move to the city, where we won't need a car so much. You go right ahead. Not me.
 
I think this is the piece that most people who advocate eliminating cars don't grasp.

Our whole society has been built around private transportation. We simply don't all live near a bus or train station, and there's no way a bus or train could replicate the car's ability go anywhere, from anywhere.

Now, you could advocate that we all move to the city, where we won't need a car so much. You go right ahead. Not me.
What scares me are the young folks who don't want to drive and feel they can live their life on Facebook, Instagram and other social media venues. I actually have a step grandson who at 26 years old has no driver's license and won't get one.
 
If a young person lives in a high density metropolitan area they probably don’t need to drive. In Europe this is even more true even in smaller town - some countries have such extensive and reliable public transportation that it’s a real pleasure and long distance travel is perfectly viable. In the US, however, if they want to travel they might want a driver’s license so that they can at least rent a car occasionally.
 
Instead of counting and taxing miles, one could tax new tires proportional to their expected mileage, except then manufacturers would be tempted to rate their tires for fewer miles in order to make them seem cheaper.
 
Yeah freedom for me is costly, but if I don't spend the money someone else will someday. And I do travel by car a lot and I'm glad I don't have to rely on anyone else dragging me around. Where I live there is no bus line. And if we did have a bus line, I doubt it would take me to my golf course or to visit friends 20 miles away.
Worst part of my potential bus trip would be crossing our street. The bus stops on the other side. I have to walk nearly two blocks, one way or the other to have a crosswalk. I don't j-walk in our traffic!
 
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