Washington State lawmakers have once again introduced a pay-per-mile tax. HB 1921 and SB 5726 would impose a vehicle miles traveled tax (VMT) of 2.6 cents per mile in response to an increase in electric vehicles and more fuel-efficient cars reducing the purchasing power of the gas tax. There are multiple red flags in these proposals for drivers.
Though the purpose of the bill is to replace the existing gas tax eventually, there are doubts the new VMT revenue would receive the same 18th Amendment protections ensuring the funds are spent for the construction and maintenance of roads. In fact, the bill proposes an additional 10% surcharge specifically to allow funds to be spent beyond the traditional 18th Amendment protections. Other concerns include a violation of privacy due to the need to report miles driven when registering your vehicle.
The Washington State Transportation Committee has been advocating for a pay-per-mile or vehicle miles traveled (VMT) policy for 12 years. As the number of electric vehicles has gradually increased, the revenue from the gas tax is slowly decreasing. Around the country, Oregon, Utah, Virginia, and Hawaii have already implemented some form of a pay-per-mile tax.
Senator Marko Liias and Representative Jake Fey think that the most equitable way to tax is through the philosophy, “the more you use, the more you pay.” This Road Usage Charge (RUC) would start at 2.6 cents per mile. This would be reported by the odometer, or GPS tracking reported to the state, and it would be included as a part of the driver’s annual registration fee.
For example, including the 10% surcharge, if you drive 10,000 miles a year the VMT would be $286, 15,000 miles it would be $429, and 20,000 miles the VMT would total $572.
The timeline for implementation would look like this for all vehicles under 10,000 pounds:
July 2027 – Start of voluntary per-mile tax on electric and hybrid vehicle owners.
July 2029 – Start of mandatory per-mile tax on all-electric and hybrid vehicle owners.
July 2029 – Start of voluntary per-mile tax on gas-vehicle owners that get more than 20 mpg.
July 2031 – Start of mandatory per-mile tax on 20+ mpg gas-vehicle owners.
The stated purpose of supporters is to eventually replace the gas tax with this RUC charge to fund the construction and maintenance of public roads. The 18th Amendment of the Washington State Constitution requires gas taxes, motor vehicle license fees, and other revenue intended for highway purposes to be placed into a designated Motor Vehicle Fund.
This legislation, however, also includes a 10% road usage assessment fee for those participating in the RUC program. This is the first year that this extra fee is being considered inside the charge. The revenue from this extra surcharge will be used for rail, bicycle, pedestrian, and public transportation. Through this sneaky extra charge, lawmakers are able to avoid the 18th Amendment requirements and use highway-related taxes for non-highway purposes. If this pay-per-mile tax is supposed to replace the gas tax, it is already set up to have funds to go to different priorities than the gas tax does.
There is a big worry about the government handling such sensitive information such as GPS location and tracking of this program. An argument could be made that this tracking could violate the 4th, 9th, and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. The bill attempts to address that concern by stating that the legislation must “protect individual’s privacy and civil liberty.” This language, however, is very vague and doesn’t provide any clarity.
The legislation creates a new level of government bureaucracy in hiring more government workers to implement this RUC program. Other states have allowed the private sector to run their pay-per-mile program. In that model, the information would directly be sent to the company, the company would strip all non-essential information from the user’s account, and then send over only the information necessary for taxing purposes to the government. But that is not the case with this legislation. This data also may be used for other reasons. For example, law enforcement will have access to “personally identifying information reported” through the RUC under court order. There will be a temptation from officials to want this information for their own department.
The citizens of Washington have sent a clear message that they do not want a RUC charge. 98% of the 20,000-plus who signed in to testify were against the bill. With electric and hybrid vehicle owners already having to pay annual fees, this idea doesn’t seem to even the playing field at all.
Lawmakers need to trim their scope to merely replace this gas tax if that is their aim. The extra 10% surcharge allows them to sneak in a way to fund non-road projects circumventing the protections of the 18th Amendment. As commercial trucker Richard Schilling told the Senate Transportation Committee, "this is clearly a bill just to establish a rate and work out the details later.”
If this proposal is truly about a replacement for the gas tax, lawmakers should first ensure the same constitutional protections exist. A good indication if this is the case will be whether they first act on SJR 8202: “Amending the state Constitution so that state revenue collected from a road usage charge, vehicle miles traveled fee, or other similar type of comparable charge, must be used exclusively for highway purposes.”