Levy on Driving Gains Speed as Gas-Tax Replacement

As the US moves away from a gasoline-only auto culture, researchers and the government are investigating alternative taxes to fund road-building and maintenance, the Kansas City Star reports. The leading idea to supplant the gas tax is a by-the-mile approach endorsed by a federal commission. “If you’re committed to the system being improved then it was a no-brainer,” the chairman said.

The commission prefers a high-tech approach utilizing GPS trackers in cars to report mileage back to a central database, which would then prepare a monthly bill. With gas mileage improving and all-electric cars on the horizon, the commission wants the system in place by 2020. “The Chevrolet Volt won’t pay a penny of fuel tax,” a transportation official noted. (More gasoline stories.)