For academics at the University of Maryland (UMD), merely collecting a toll from drivers for every mile they drive is not enough. UMD College Park researchers Di Yang, Eirini Kastrouni and Lei Zhang insist in a recent academic paper that motorists should pay a proportionally higher tax that is based on their income. Published in the journal Transport Policy, the article argues that a new variable-rate vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax could supplement transportation funds being rapidly depleted by increased spending on transit infrastructure.
“On the revenue generation side, VMT fee policies can supplement the existing fuel tax revenues to mitigate the fiscal deficit,” the researchers wrote for the London School of Economics last week. “The three income-based VMT fees are all designed to double the revenue generated so that they are comparable with respect to their impacts on consumer surplus and travel behavior.”
Currently, gasoline taxes at the state and federal level are collected primarily at the distributor level, which keeps the tax simple. The more one drives, the more one pays, with those choosing lighter and more fuel efficient vehicles spending less at the pump. Many politicians hate the gas tax because the public generally opposes hikes in fuel taxes. As a result, transportation officials have sought more indirect means of taxation that would make it easier to raise rates. The VMT has emerged as a popular solution in transportation circles, but opponents have objected that vehicle miles traveled taxes hit low-income drivers the hardest. The researchers suggest the solution is to raise more money for transit while simultaneously eliminating the fairness concern by imposing higher VMT taxes on drivers from high-income households.
“Among the proposed fee structures, the policy with a fixed interval increase rate as people’s level of income improves is considered to be progressive overall,” the researchers explain.
A ten cent per mile VMT tax would generate $44 billion nationwide over twenty years. The latest article is based on an analysis in Yang’s 2014 master’s thesis which calculated the impact of the fees using various economic and travel demand models. One model, for instance, would have the tax jump 50 percent at each income bracket. So a 10-cent-per mile rate for households earning less than $20,000 per year would rise to 15 cents up to the $20,000 to $40,000 per year bracket. From $40,000 to $60,000, the rate would be 23 cents, from $60,000 to $100,000 it would be 34 cents, and above $100,000 it would be 51 cents. As most drivers travel 12,000 miles per year, the low income tax would be $1200 compared to $6120 for the wealthy.
At this rate, Yang calculates that the income-adjusted vehicle miles traveled tax would more than double the gas tax revenue, compared to the 57 percent increase a flat-rate VMT would generate. The paper presumes drivers facing a doubling of government fees would be more inclined to take the bus.
what about the cars out today that dont use gasoline..
i would think those people would say Kiss off on your “Tax”… ( extortion)
there are also multiple ways to “deal” with this
it also brings to mind them wanting to push more people into cities , more control over the populace
“The paper presumes drivers facing a doubling of government fees would be more inclined to take the bus.”
what if there isnt any buses going your way?.. and these buses would also be paying this “tax” so the fare on the bus would go up
People, arnt we about fed up yet with being fleeced at every dam move we make yet?
“Tax by the mile” sounds like yet another attempt to keep track of where everyone drives.
*** UMD College Park researchers Di Yang, Eirini Kastrouni and Lei Zhang ***
I’m sure they came to America because of their dedication to freedom and the Bill of Rights.
That’s not to say that all “real” Americans support freedom. Far from it. But all this immigration from countries like China certainly doesn’t help, especially when they come here to do research on new surveillance and other technologies that further empower government.
I know, right?
they leave an oppressive government .. come here .. and try to turn this place into what they left their native country for.. so dam hard to fix stupid
These guys don’t even have original American names and probably don’t know American history and how the highway was built around Baltimore Washington to begin with. I am from this area and will tell these inbred heaven idiots to shove-it. Go to Seattle. Raising taxes don’t fix a thing. The power to tax is the power to destroy. Go back to your communist country.
all these comments are correct. the government is rounding us up at our expense so they get our money and keep tracks on who is where. a communist move. I’d like to know how much money these Chinese make. If this proposal effected them monetarily, they probably wouldn’t propose it. then again do we know that the government isn’t behind this? they’ll say anything to get more control and money. I’m all in for a Boston Tea Party in Maryland only the politicians cars will be in the bay instead of tea