Charging EVs to Finance Highways

January 28, 2025

To help offset declining motor fuel taxes that fund US highway construction and maintenance, Vermont recently became the latest state to impose a fee to register electric vehicles, The New York Times reports. But critics object for various reasons. In Issues, John Paul Helveston examines an alternate approach: a federal system that taxes the miles a vehicle travels, not the fuel it uses. This will require addressing some technical, political, and social challenges, he writes, but “by taxing the miles, regulators and other stakeholders can work together with greater flexibility to manage the societal benefits and costs of driving.”