[ronald reagan]

After reading the entire section of the 'trial program' in the infrastructure bill (which I doubt anyone else here has done)... I see zero problems with it, and it certainly does not violate Biden's pledge.

The federal gas tax as a means to fund the highway system is on its way to zero dollars of revenue. With company after company committing to switching to an all electric fleet, coupled with drastically increased efficiency of ICE cars, coupled with increased environmental regulations and concerns, coupled with many of the largest FF companies committing to going greener, etc, etc etc.... the gas tax will no longer be a viable form of replenishing the highway trust fund.

The Pilot program is an all-volunteer group of men and women who sign up for the study. The study is meant to determine several things. How to measure it being among the most critical. Different tech is being considered.. among them are smartphones, ez pass like systems, OBD-II, self report, etc. Also, how do you collect a tax like this? Like sales tax, collected by the state and then passed up to the federal government? a portal that links directly to an IRS like website? That sorta stuff.

The goal of switching to a per-mile tax isn't to add a 2nd tax to driving. But to replace the existing gas tax. Right now, electric car owners are driving on the roads -- absolutely free! While if you have 15 year old SUV, you or I are paying about 2-3 cents per mile. Kentucky's total gas tax is about 45 cents. So 15-20mpg is used as a reference.

According to AAA, kentucky drivers average 17,370 miles per year. A lower class husband and wife will drive about 35,000 miles combined. At 3 cents per mile, thats over $1,040 per year in gas taxes to drive on our roads. Meanwhile the middle class family driving tesla's --- they pay exactly ZERO dollars for the same privileges. A per-mile tax system is the only way to correct this problem.

The goal of the system, as stated above, is not to couple a 2nd tax on top of the fuel tax. Its to create a more efficient and tax with a broader base... to replace the antiquated fuel tax.

Interestingly enough, New York and California are the two lowest states for mileage per year. Meaning that they contribute less to the federal highway fund than any other state, per capita. Of the states that have the most miles driven per year, 13 of the top 15 -- red states.

Utah is perhaps the first state to be switching to this new style. And it received overwhelmingly bipartisan support. And it will in Washington too.

Its time to switch to a better plan.