A Voyeuristic Mileage Tracker in every car—VMT to replace CA’s gas tax
Sacramento loves plugging drivers into EV's--especially in Silicon Valley, which has a strong acceptance of EV's. But Sacto can’t stand losing gas tax revenue. Enter Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT), an odometer bracelet for every car that watches where you drive, when, and…how much you make? California Globe’s Thomas Buckley writes.
If and when fully implemented, a VMT tax needs to know exactly when and where you are driving at all times--and the public is overwhelmingly against the idea of being tracked by the government.
At its most basic, a VMT tax involves charging a driver a fee for every mile they drive, and/or when they drive on a particular street, and/or in a particular area, and/or at a particular time of day – all three combined.
Additionally, every tax whispered or loudly talked about has an income component, with low-income drivers getting a break on the per mile rate.
Typically, in past discussions of the program, a figure of a nickel a mile has been bandied about.
And if you were wondering what would happen when you drove from a state with a VMT tax to a state with pay at the pump? Don’t worry, there was funding in President Biden’s massive “infrastructure” bill to test the program nationally.
Read the whole thing here.
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