The Michigan Department of Transportation continues to prepare drivers for the coming of a new way to pay for road maintenance.
As the gasoline tax generates less, the agency has been exploring a road user fee based on how many miles each driver has driven.
Speaking on the MDOT podcast, Talking Michigan Transportation, the Reason Foundation’s Baruch Feigenbaum said he’s encouraged the state Legislature has allocated $5 million for a pilot program to test such a model. He says this mileage fee will have to be flexible in order to be effective.
“Obviously, over time in order to take care of the roads properly, there needs to be appropriate indexing and I think that’s something that has not happened with the gas tax and is one of the challenges, not being indexed to inflation or other improvements in technology,” Feigenbaum said.
Feigenbaum says several states are exploring the user fee model. It could be based on a GPS system, either one that monitors where someone goes, or to address privacy concerns, one that doesn’t.
“The other common ones are a GPS system that does not have any type of mileage recording option. So basically, all it knows is it’s keeping track of the mileage that you’re driving, but not when you’re driving it or where you’re driving it.”
Feigenbaum adds rural drivers would come out ahead with such a model because they tend to drive less fuel efficient vehicles and therefore currently pay more for gas than city drivers. Under this model, it wouldn’t matter what kind of car a person drives.
Feigenbaum didn’t say how or how often a driver would have to pay their mileage tax. That will be something for lawmakers to work out.
