Federal Legislation Proposes Plan to Replace Fuel Tax with Mileage Fee

The $1 trillion infrastructure bill that the United States Senate in mid-August approved proposes a pilot program to “test the design, acceptance, implementation and financial sustainability of a national motor vehicle per-mile user fee.”

The federal taxes have remained at 18.4 cents per gallon of gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon of diesel since 1993. Adjusting for inflation would place the taxes at 34 and 44 cents per gallon. Meanwhile, technological advances have improved the average fuel efficiency for cars from 20.7 miles per gallon (mpg) to 25.7, while standard trucks have jumped to 20 mpg from 13 during the same period.

The volunteer pilot program will collect miles traveled information from third-party on-board diagnostic (OBD-II) devices, smartphone applications, telemetric data collected by automakers, motor vehicle data from insurance companies, states that received grants from the Obama administration’s Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, fueling stations and “any other method that the Secretary [of the Treasury] considers appropriate.”

One year after the pilot program launches, the treasury secretary will report its results to Congress and determine its feasibility.

Chris Madrid, left, of Stanley, N.M., competes during the World Championship Blacksmiths event in Fitchburg, Wis.

Chris Madrid Racks Up Second Straight WCB Event

A familiar name sits atop the World Championship Blacksmiths (WCB) standings after the season’s first two events.

Stanley, N.M., farrier Chris Madrid followed up his victory at the season-opening Roadrunner Classic in Edgewood, N.M., by capturing the…