WA eyes pay-by-mile system as gas tax revenue declines

After more than a decade of tabletop exercises, pilot programs and studies, the legislature is finally going to take up the Road Usage Charge (RUC). The plan to have us pay-by-mile will have its first hearing on Thursday.

The gas tax just doesn’t cut it anymore. I have been reporting on this idea for more than a decade. Fuel-efficient cars get better gas mileage and pay less gas tax. Electric vehicles don’t use gas, and their owners don’t pay gas taxes for the upkeep of roads. We know the legislature fails to fund the maintenance and preservation of roads by a billion dollars a year.

Is pay-by-mile the answer for a fairer, more stable road funding source?

State Representative Jake Fey, a Democrat from Tacoma, has finally introduced a bill to start the RUC program.

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I spoke with the House Transportation Committee Chair last year about whether now was the time to get started.

“We need to set things in motion,” he said. “It’s going to take some time to get this all in place and to do it in a way that’s that is going to be very workable, but the longer we put it off, the more we find ourselves to be in a hole.”

As Representative Fey announced Thursday’s hearing, his office made the case for starting the RUC by saying gas tax revenue will decline by over 70% by 2050. To keep pace, his office said the gas tax would have to go up from its current $0.494 a gallon to nearly $2 a gallon over the same time.

If the situation is so dire, I asked Representative Fey why there hasn’t been any urgency to transition to this.

“I try to listen to people, and I think they’re frustrated that we haven’t made a lot of progress, other than doing some interesting studies,” he said. “It was time to actually set this in motion because our gasoline revenues are not going to grow.”

Here’s how the Road Usage Charge would work

The plan is for the RUC to eventually replace the gas tax, though that is not mentioned specifically in House Bill 1921.

It would charge drivers $0.026 a mile for every mile they drive. That’s up from the $0.024 a mile that had always been on the table. The money raised would be protected by the 18th Amendment, just like the gas tax and earmarked specifically for the preservation and maintenance of highway purposes.

But this bill goes beyond the original road usage plans by also charging drivers an extra assessment — equal to 10% of your yearly RUC charge — that would go to other modes, like rail, bikes, pedestrians and public transportation.

You would pay the RUC when you renew your tabs.

At a press conference Tuesday, Representative Fey described the RUC as more equitable way to pay for roads.  “I believe the RUC is fair,” he said.  “Everyone pays based on how much they drive. The RUC is sustainable. It ensures long term funding stability as vehicles become more fuel efficient, and it is a tested and proven way in which to create a system that has the user pay based on their use of the highway system.”

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But here’s where it gets really messy. Drivers would pay the gas tax at the pump and be charged the RUC at the same time. Your gas tax would then be credited toward your RUC at renewal.  The gas tax wouldn’t go away right away.   That’s because our transportation projects are bonded against the gas tax and those bonds need to be paid back with the gas tax.

If passed by the legislature, EVs and hybrids would be able to start a voluntary program in 2027. Gas vehicles, with better than 20 miles a gallon, can start a voluntary program in 2029.

This would become mandatory for EVs and hybrids in 2029 and mandatory for the most fuel efficient gas vehicles in 2031.

It would start with a straight odometer read when renewing your tabs. Plans for wireless or GPS-based tracking would follow as an option. The bill does mention that the privacy of the owner is a “first principle,” as it pertains to location data.

There are no plans to track travel patterns or locations.

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