LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — A brand new price could possibly be placed on the shoulders of Michiganders primarily based on the variety of miles that they drive.
The car miles traveled, or VMT consumer price, is being proposed by state lawmakers as a result of state not accumulating as a lot cash by the gasoline tax.
Vehicles’ improved effectivity and electrical automobile drivers not paying the gasoline tax are a few of the causes that the state is raking in much less dough.
Although electrical automobile drivers pay the next registration price, Home Transportation Committee Chair Jack O’Malley stated that it’s not the most effective long-term resolution.
O’Malley referred to as the VMT price the choice “that makes probably the most sense.”
Charles Griffith is the Director of the Local weather and Vitality Program at The Ecology Heart, and Griffith stated the VMT can be politically simpler, however financially unfair to EV drivers.
“Give them [EV drivers] a selection to not pay that surcharge and pay the VMT as a substitute,” stated Griffith. “I don’t suppose EV drivers ought to have a free experience and they need to pay a justifiable share going ahead to repair the roads.”
As an alternative of implementing the VMT price, Griffith instructed a VMT pilot program for EV drivers must be rolled out earlier than it’s utilized to all drivers.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer stated the Legislature will talk about this concern additional in 2023.
