#Bidens vmt how to
#Bidens vmt drivers

A VMT fee will also have other challenges. The federal gas tax is 18.4 cents/gallon and has not been raised for decades. “If the taxes that are currently credited to the trust fund remained in place and if funding for highway and transit programs increased annually at the rate of inflation, the shortfalls accumulated in the Highway Trust Fund’s highway and mass transit accounts from 2022 to 2031 would total $195 billion, according to CBO’s baseline budget projections as of February 2021,” Kile wrote.Ī VMT fee would be more costly to jumpstart than raising the federal gas tax, Kile said. Joseph Kile, director of Microeconomic Analysis at the Congressional Budget Office, projected balances in both the highway and transit accounts of the HTF will be exhausted in 2022. car manufacturers planning to move to an all electric fleet and a recognition that problems with the gas tax are not going away means lawmakers will look elsewhere, Howard added.ĭuring an EPW hearing Wednesday, Dr. Though raising the federal gas tax seems like a logical solution, Congress has just never been able to do it in in recent decades Howard said. “The question for Congress to figure out is what’s next, what makes sense to do in this next bill,” Howard said. Those factors are putting attention onto a VMT, she said. “Congress is feeling anxious as we get closer to the FAST Act extension expiring, as we know the problems with the gas tax are not going away, as we know more electric vehicles are going to be coming online,” Howard said.

#Bidens vmt how to

Current surface transportation legislation is expiring at the end of September 2020 is making Congress anxious about how to fix the HTF, Howard said. So far 15 to 20 states have been involved in VMT pilots either regionally or independently, Howard said. “It would be a dramatic change to shift from what we have now to a mileage-based fee.” “There are significant questions about the revenue collection, the administration,” Howard added.

“You could set a future date of when new cars would have to come with the technology to implement this kind of system for charging, but that wouldn’t happen overnight,” Howard said. Some commissions in the past have said it could take five to ten years. It is hard to say precisely how long it would take to implement a national VMT, said Susan Howard, program director for transportation finance at AASHTO. These and relying more on private sector investment through public-private partnerships are all possibilities, the Congressional Research Service said in a March report.

#Bidens vmt drivers

Some suggested ways to replenish the HTF have been through increasing the federal gas tax, charging electric vehicle drivers a fee, imposing a vehicle miles traveled charge, and tolling. General funds transfers authorized in previous legislation have supported the HTF for the past 13 years. The HTF spends 20% on transit, while 80% goes to highways. It’s been running on gas taxes for years and is running out of fuel. The Highway Trust Fund, the source of funding for federal surface transportation projects, could be bolstered by a VMT fee. “All who use our surface transportation system should contribute to its upkeep and expansion,” Capito said. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said those who use the roads should help pay for them. “Eventually the future, I think, is vehicle miles traveled.”Ī VMT fee was also the consensus to pay for infrastructure during a Senate EPW Committee hearing on Wednesday.ĮPW Ranking Member Sen. “Gas and diesel user fees ought to be part of the future, but that will be a dwindling part of the future,” Carper said.