Pay per mile is sound idea but gas tax must be eliminated

State lawmakers are proposing a pay per mile system (House Bill 1921) to help pay for road maintenance.

The rationale is sound as it tries to level the playing field among gas and battery-powered vehicles. However, HB 1921 is fatally flawed in that it doesn’t eliminate altogether the state’s 50 cents per gallon gas tax.

Here’s my modest proposal.

Eliminate the gas tax and replace it with pay per mile for all vehicles as follows:

Cars and light trucks, 2.5 cents per mile;

Heavy trucks and buses, 3 cents per mile;

Motorcycles, -one cent per mile.

Currently, Tesla owners pay only a flat $225 a year road maintenance fee. Compare that with a gas-powered SUV traveling 30,000 miles per year at 20 miles per gallon paying $750 a year for road maintenance, a gross inequity.

State legislators need to do more homework to eliminate the unfair 50 cents a gallon gas tax and replace it with a universal pay per mile tax system.

Morgan Davis

Snohomish