A fundamental shift in how roads are financed may mean keeping track of how many miles each vehicle drives on Washington roads. The most recent Washington State Transportation Commission recommendations represent more than a decade of study, initiated at the request of the legislature in 2012.
The road usage charge concept, also known as a vehicle miles traveled tax or VMT, involves charging drivers for each mile they drive on state roads.
The state transportation commission is recommending a rate of 2.5 cents per mile. The WSTC suggests starting a voluntary program in 2025 open to drivers of more fuel efficient vehicles and drivers of zero emission vehicles opt-in starting in 2025.
The commission proposed making it mandatory for all new vehicles starting at model year 2028.
The chief rationale for implementing a road usage charge is tied to projections for declining gas tax revenue over time.
Fuel tax is one of the primary sources of funding for state roads and bridges. As vehicles become more fuel efficient and as the proportion of electric vehicles grows – those revenues are projected to decrease.
The WSTC recommends replacing the fuel tax with a road usage charge and giving drivers two options to comply with the program requirements.
One option involves using a GPS enabled device to automatically track and report mileage to the state or a 3rd party contractor to calculate the mileage tax owed. Another option involves having the vehicle odometer inspected manually – to calculate the mileage tax owed.
A major point of criticism about the proposal centers on the privacy concerns raised by a system that could track your vehicle’s movements at all times. It would also be more complicated to implement than the fuel tax system which is built into the price you pay at the gas pump.
To protect privacy and contain costs, the WSTC recommends making odometer reporting the default method for determining miles driven while allowing other methods of mileage reporting for drivers who prefer them. The commission also recommends enacting strong privacy protections for the data gathered during mileage reporting. gfx over video-washington drivers currently pay 49 cents in state fuel tax per gallon of gasoline or diesel.the state fuel tax is guaranteed to go towards road preservation and maintenance by the 18th amendment to the state constitution. The commission recommends earmarking the road usage charge for highway maintenance too.
Supporters of the pay by mile proposal say it will ensure that electric vehicle owners who don’t buy fuel pay their fair share for highway maintenance. The cost implications of a pay-per-mile system vary depending on your mileage.
From Olympia to Seattle at 2.5 cents per mile you’d pay $1.52 one way or $3.04 in road usage charge fees roundtrip.
That’s around a dollar more than you’d pay in fuel tax for the same trip in a 30 mile per gallon vehicle.
It’s also about 50 cents less than you’d pay round trip in a 17 mile per gallon vehicle.
Driving from Spokane to Seattle at 2.5 cents per mile would cost you $6.95 in road usage charges or $13.90 round trip.
That’s about five dollars more than you’d pay round trip in fuel tax driving a 30 mile per gallon vehicle.
It’s about two dollars less you’d pay in fuel tax driving the same distance in a 17 mile per gallon vehicle.
House Bill 1832 sponsored by Democratic House Transportation Committee Chair Jake Fey would allow drivers to opt-in to paying a road usage charge starting in 2025. Gas powered vehicle owners would receive a refund for fuel tax paid at the pump and EV owners would receive a refund of electric vehicle registration fees.
The bill would create a mandatory road usage charge starting in 2030.
HB 1832 did not advance beyond the committee stage and appears to be dead for the year. One of the major sticking points during testimony on the bill was whether revenue from a per mile fee on drivers should be guaranteed to go back into road maintenance like gas tax revenue – or whether it should be up for grabs for other purposes such as transit.
“If a road usage charge is meant to replace the gas tax then it should be treated in the same way. And like gas tax, protecting the RUC under the 18th amendment would ensure that users who pay the fee receive the benefit. The legislature has a long history of sweeping funds for other uses. Protecting the RUC for highway expenditures directly ties the per mile rate to actual road usage, thus providing much needed legitimacy to a new funding source that will be viewed skeptically by the public. And if you doubt that I would encourage you to pull up the 46 pages of folks who have signed in in opposition to this bill,” said Mike Ennis, Association of Washington Business.
“A key assumption in the adopted plan is that in the future our road usage charge not only begin to replace motor vehicle fuel taxes, but also provide a flexible source of funding for multi-modal investments on the entire system. Including both local roadways and transit,” said Ben Bakkenta, Puget Sound Regional Council. “A RUC deployed in Washington should be flexible in use and provide authority to high growth regions or counties to enact an incremental fee above the state gas tax replacement level to use on multi modal investments or other critical local needs.”
This week we take a deep dive into the road usage charge recommendations provided by the Washington State Transportation Commission during an interview with WSTC Executive Director Reema Griffith.
“We really do firmly believe that the simpler the better and the odometer read, which has nothing to do with your location, is probably the best approach for the long term.”
Reema Griffith. Executive Director, Washington State Transportation Commission
For a different perspective on the Road Usage Charge check out this 2021 interview with Mariya Frost, former director for the Coles Center for Transportation at the Washington Policy Center.
