NASHVILLE — With state fuel tax revenues already failing to keep up with Tennessee’s current highway needs, let alone future demands and pressures, state senators this week heard testimony from experts advocating the state consider implementing mileage-based user fees on a pay-per-mile basis.
Baruch Feigenbaum with the libertarian Reason Foundation told Senate Transportation Committee members on Wednesday that the advent of electric vehicles, combined with increasing gains in gas and diesel-powered vehicle fuel efficiency, are turning the once-dependable fuel tax into a “rock star on its farewell tour.”
“Over the long term, it’s no longer reliable,” said Feigenbaum, a senior managing director at the Reason Foundation.
Mileage-based user fees are also known as vehicle miles traveled fees. Drivers are charged a fee based on the number of miles driven as opposed to taxing motor fuel, long the workhorse for federal and most states’ transportation infrastructure spending.
Feigenbaum said some 20 states are piloting user fees and added that Virginia has already implemented a program. Georgia officials are looking at a pilot program, he said.