Vmt tax in infrastructure bill drivers#
Vmt tax in infrastructure bill software#

'Eventually all states will employ a VMT/RUC in some form or fashion and they will all be interconnected and have data-sharing capabilities so that all VMT/RUC for miles driven in a state goes to that state's road funding,' he said in an email to Modern Shipper. And according to Nate Bryer, executive vice president of road-usage charging (RUC) at Azuga, a VMT tax is most certainly coming. The impact on ride-shareĪ VMT tax could potentially alleviate the problem of funding roads and transportation infrastructure, but it may also create a new set of problems that negatively affect the ride-share industry.

Vmt tax in infrastructure bill drivers#

There are also differing opinions regarding how drivers should be charged, with some advocating for a flat fee while others propose a variable fee that accounts for things like travel time, congestion, type of road, vehicle emission levels, and ability to pay. Some models propose adding the VMT tax on top of the existing gas tax, while others say it should fully replace it. States considering such a program include California, Delaware, and about a dozen others.

Vmt tax in infrastructure bill software#

In conjunction with the I-95 Corridor Commission, fleet management software provider Azuga ran a four-month pilot program to test mileage-based fees in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. Other states have experimented with VMT tax programs but have yet to adopt them. Related: Read: EVs for all: What Biden's executive order means for gig economy Read: Rivian files for what could be the 4th-largest IPO of the decade In January 2020, Utah rolled out its own voluntary road usage charge program, and as of June 2021, the program had accumulated over 3,700 members. Volunteers self-install a mileage reporting device in their vehicles and are charged for each mile they drive, currently at a rate of 1.8 cents per mile. It also discovered that the VMT tax could be paid at a gas pump, just like the normal gas tax, and that the program could be phased in, with a VMT tax for vehicles equipped with mileage-tracking technology and a gas tax for unequipped vehicles.īy 2015, Oregon had launched OReGO, a voluntary program that had enrolled over 1,300 vehicles as of 2017. The project, which followed 299 volunteer motorists in 285 vehicles over the course of 12 months, found that 91% of participants would agree to pay a VMT tax instead of a gas tax. In 2007, Oregon debuted a pilot project that kicked off a small wave of states experimenting with VMT taxes. While a tax on miles driven may sound foreign to many, the U.S.

The infrastructure bill doesn't specify exactly what the projects would look like, but that could allow the government to experiment with a variety of VMT tax models. The Biden administration's proposed VMT tax pilot project would be the first federally backed initiative of its kind. And because the gas tax hasn't been sufficient to cover the costs of transportation infrastructure for at least the past decade, everyone is paying for our roads, even those who don't drive on them. The adoption of electric vehicles and other alternative fuel vehicles, which has been called for by Biden himself, has also limited the use of the pumps.

For one, people are driving less, and when they do drive, they're more efficient than ever – fuel economy reached a record high in 2020 at 25.7 miles per gallon. Since 2000, fuel tax revenues have declined significantly due to a confluence of factors. But while a VMT tax program might help the nation's faltering transportation infrastructure, it could have some negative implications for the ride-share industry. The administration's $1 trillion infrastructure package proposes allocating a total of $125 million over five years to test pilot programs for a road usage fee under which drivers are taxed by miles traveled. Just last week, the Highway Trust Fund, which supports road construction and mass transit, ran out of money, saved only by a 30-day extension of funding.įor the Biden administration, the answer could be in a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax. government hasn't raised the federal tax rate of 18.4 cents per gallon since 1993, and since 2008, policymakers have been drawing from nontransportation funds like the general fund to pay for transportation infrastructure because the gas tax simply isn't bringing in enough money. Support it or oppose it, the federal excise tax on gasoline, more commonly referred to as the gas tax, isn't getting it done.