Gee warns Washington drivers will be hit with both a Road Usage Charge and gas tax
Feb 12, 2025, 1:06 PM | Updated: 2:05 pm
Washington cars drive over a bridge in a more rural part of Washington. (Photo courtesy of WA RUC)
(Photo courtesy of WA RUC)
With the gas tax failing to provide enough funds for Washington roads and highways, the Washington Legislature is finally taking up Road Usage Charge (RUC) — a plan to have residents pay by the mile. Its first hearing is set to happen Thursday.
“Let me just set the groundwork. Why are we thinking about changing the way that we pay for roads? Well, because the gas tax doesn’t do it anymore,” KIRO Newsradio Traffic Reporter Chris Sullivan said on “The Gee and Ursula Show.” “Our cars are more fuel efficient. We have hybrids. We have electric vehicles. So, the gas tax doesn’t provide the amount of money that it used to in order to maintain and preserve our roads. Now, we’re looking for a way to capture some of that money that those fuel-efficient vehicles have so that that money can then be earmarked for roads and bridges and pavement.”
More context on RUC in WA: WA eyes pay-by-mile system as gas tax revenue declines
State Representative Jake Fey, who introduced the bill that would kickstart the RUC program, cited that the gas tax revenue is expected to decline by more than 70% by 2050. To keep pace, his office stated the gas tax would have to go up from its current $0.494 a gallon to nearly $2 a gallon over the same time.
“This has the potential to be very messy,” Gee Scott, co-host of “The Gee and Ursula Show,” said. “I mean very messy because what’s going to happen is they’re going to keep both. You got to get to the point where you do one or the other.”
“And that was the plan,” Sullivan added. “The plan was to have this replace the gas tax. Problem with that is, in the short term, the way we bond our construction projects, we bond that against revenue from the gas tax. So we can’t just get rid of the gas tax because it’s written into law that that money has to go to pay back our construction project.”
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Listen to the entire conversation here:
Listen to “The Gee and Ursula Show“ weekday mornings from 9 a.m.- noon on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.
