How many states are doing this? Have you ever heard of any place that have this law?
How's this from the hawaiian islands
Just want to know if anyone of you guys ever heard of any place doing this!
Hawaii lawmakers are hoping to pass legislation that would determine the viability of taxing drivers by the mile. Legislators say as more people purchase hybrid vehicles and driving habits change, fuel tax collections will likely suffer.
“We have to make sure that the highway fund is properly funded because if it isn't, then we simply stop putting in the infrastructure,” said Sen. Kalani English, chair of the Transportation Committee and the lead sponsor of the bill.
The pilot program, known as Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT), would be administered by the State Transportation Department as part of the Hawaii’s Highway Modernization Plan. Transportation Director Brennon Morioka told Khon2 a variety of methods would be looked at to determine the best way of tracking driving habits.
“Monitoring your odometers by going into service stations…or using GPS or whatever other form of tracking device,” said Morioka.
Florida, Oregon, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington and Texas are conducting similar studies to determine the logistics and issues surrounding a VMT tax.
Currently, Hawaii charges drivers pay 17 cents per gallon in state fuel taxes and 16.5 cents per gallon in county taxes (Honolulu).
If the state were to switch to a miles driven tax, Morioka says fuel and weight taxes would be phased out.
“We're not looking to add taxes in this. We're looking at being able to sustain revenues into the future. The VMT model would replace the old fuel tax and weight tax model.”
Sen. English however would not rule out the possibility that some form of a fuel tax could remain in place if the VMT model is eventually adopted.
“They may say the miles driven works but maybe we're going to keep the fuel tax at what it is and add this in,” he said. “It could be anything."
Rep. Jessica Wooley, who voted against the creation of the pilot program, said a miles traveled tax would hurt low-income families the most.
"Especially for people who are far from town,” said Wooley. “Those are the people who would be most impacted by this type of change in the tax structure."
Wooley also believes drivers would be discouraged from purchasing hybrid vehicles if they were taxed by the mile, instead of the amount of fuel pumped into their car or truck.
“(If) the majority of the population, eighty percent were driving electric cars then the per gallon tax is not going to be very effective,” she said, “but the reality is we are so far from that."
In March, only 2.5 percent of all new car sold in the U.S. were hybrid models.
According to the Hawaii Automobile Dealers Association, 2.3 percent of all cars sold in Hawaii in 2006 were gas-electric vehicles. Through August of 2007, 984 hybrid vehicles were sold in Hawaii out of a total of 57,526. HADA did not have statistics on hybrid sales for 2008 or the first quarter of 2009.
How's this from the hawaiian islands
Just want to know if anyone of you guys ever heard of any place doing this!
Hawaii lawmakers are hoping to pass legislation that would determine the viability of taxing drivers by the mile. Legislators say as more people purchase hybrid vehicles and driving habits change, fuel tax collections will likely suffer.
“We have to make sure that the highway fund is properly funded because if it isn't, then we simply stop putting in the infrastructure,” said Sen. Kalani English, chair of the Transportation Committee and the lead sponsor of the bill.
The pilot program, known as Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT), would be administered by the State Transportation Department as part of the Hawaii’s Highway Modernization Plan. Transportation Director Brennon Morioka told Khon2 a variety of methods would be looked at to determine the best way of tracking driving habits.
“Monitoring your odometers by going into service stations…or using GPS or whatever other form of tracking device,” said Morioka.
Florida, Oregon, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington and Texas are conducting similar studies to determine the logistics and issues surrounding a VMT tax.
Currently, Hawaii charges drivers pay 17 cents per gallon in state fuel taxes and 16.5 cents per gallon in county taxes (Honolulu).
If the state were to switch to a miles driven tax, Morioka says fuel and weight taxes would be phased out.
“We're not looking to add taxes in this. We're looking at being able to sustain revenues into the future. The VMT model would replace the old fuel tax and weight tax model.”
Sen. English however would not rule out the possibility that some form of a fuel tax could remain in place if the VMT model is eventually adopted.
“They may say the miles driven works but maybe we're going to keep the fuel tax at what it is and add this in,” he said. “It could be anything."
Rep. Jessica Wooley, who voted against the creation of the pilot program, said a miles traveled tax would hurt low-income families the most.
"Especially for people who are far from town,” said Wooley. “Those are the people who would be most impacted by this type of change in the tax structure."
Wooley also believes drivers would be discouraged from purchasing hybrid vehicles if they were taxed by the mile, instead of the amount of fuel pumped into their car or truck.
“(If) the majority of the population, eighty percent were driving electric cars then the per gallon tax is not going to be very effective,” she said, “but the reality is we are so far from that."
In March, only 2.5 percent of all new car sold in the U.S. were hybrid models.
According to the Hawaii Automobile Dealers Association, 2.3 percent of all cars sold in Hawaii in 2006 were gas-electric vehicles. Through August of 2007, 984 hybrid vehicles were sold in Hawaii out of a total of 57,526. HADA did not have statistics on hybrid sales for 2008 or the first quarter of 2009.
