The U.S.’s electric vehicle boom is ushering in a new crisis lawmakers have known for decades is coming: The gas tax system that prevents crumbling roads and bridges is evaporating.
There’s a solution waiting in the wings. Charging drivers for the miles they traverse could easily replace the roughly $80 billion in revenue that state and federal gas taxes produce annually. The problem is getting elected officials to put that plan into action.
Gas taxes are among the most politically risky issues elected officials can wade into, and few — on the state or the federal level — are willing to put their weight behind proposals to charge drivers to use public roads.
“It is certainly the third-rail issue here,” said Democratic state Sen. Dave Cortese, chair of the California Senate’s Transportation Committee. “That all tends to rear its ugly head whenever anybody even talks about gas tax increases or this issue of a potential replacement for it.”
