In the spring and summer of 2021, I penned Part 1 and 2 warning the peasantry about growing incentives for the state and federal governments to implement a Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) tax system to supplement declining gas tax revenues that fund construction and maintenance for local roads and interstate highways. The latest data from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) indicated that Americans drove more miles than ever in 2023, and research at the Tax Foundation noted that real revenue from fuel taxes will continue to plummet. It is projected that those funds will contract by more than 50% over the next two decades and will likely fall to a third by 2050. Unfortunately, it is the middle-class that travels the most miles and may end up funding the largest share of mileage taxes.

Gas Consumption Decline Will Erode Gas Tax Revenue 2022-2050

VMT by Household Income – FHWA

The transportation sector that could have the most detrimental effect on your disposable income and household budget is commercial trucking if exemptions and cut-outs are not employed. Before U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen regretted saying inflation was “transitory” and our cost of living started skyrocketing in 2022, here’s an excerpt from Part 2 published in Aug. 2021:

“The elephant on the highway is trucking, which is how everything you place your eyes and hands on and open your wallet to magically appears at your local retail mom and pop store or big-box operation. If you are livid about inflation today, just wait until the shit-show on that distant horizon when a per-mile transportation cost is passed onto you, consumer dearest. Fuming at the gas pump yet? Keep watching the boob tube as your life and constitutional rights are obliterated piecemeal. Maybe someday soon, the plebes will revolt in mass and remove the socialist squads from Capitol Hill and move them into Guantanamo. Unfortunately, half of us are dumbed down and voluntarily inoculating with gene-modifying jabs without informed consent and vilifying fellow Americans, so I am not sitting in a cloud of optimist hopium among the zombified… VMT will be rolled out in pilot programs for several years before any implementation can take place. There are many benefits being sold to the commercial transportation industry in return for their support, such as the elimination of gas taxes at the pump.” – TraderStef

At least 40 states have begun to navigate a path toward VMT fees that include research initiatives, pilots, active programs, and regional coalitions. Oregon was the first state to form a task force in 2001, and it implemented a “Road User Fee” program in 2015. That type of taxation is one reason among many for why 13 Oregon counties voted for secession and want to join “Greater Idaho.” Four states currently have active programs for passenger vehicles, four others are actively targeting commercial vehicles, and 16 have carried out various pilot projects. California just launched a volunteer pilot program this month that it calls a “Road Charge.” Hawaii has the only mandatory program with a “Road Usage Fee” enacted into law requiring electric vehicles (EVs) to participate by 2028 and all light vehicles by 2033.

Status of VMT Taxes Across U.S. in 2024

Numerous stopgap measures across the U.S. will be implemented if fuel taxes continue to plummet and charging drivers by the mile is heavily favored as a solution by nanny state sycophants. The decline in gas tax revenue is being blamed on EV popularity, especially in California, but reality outside that bubble dictates that EVs are not feasible for the majority of people and the automobile industry is exiting the pipe dream after suffering huge loses.

Spock Disagrees With EV Logic

As noted in the “Reappearance of a Utopian Green Energy Transition Collapse” published last fall (ongoing Twitter thread), many states remain determined to push utopian climate change narratives that are bolstered by presstitute propaganda amid the Green New Deal failure.

Biden and Newsom’s electric vehicle schemes are going up in smoke… “The Biden administration has made the promotion of electric vehicles a goal in its plan to combat climate change, but recent developments have crippled the effort to replace gasoline-powered vehicles with those running on electricity. Despite massive subsidies and government mandates, demand for electric vehicles is plummeting after a jolt of interest. Blaze News spoke with industry insiders to uncover the reasons behind this lack of demand, which seems to persist in spite of government efforts to encourage and/or mandate the switch to electric vehicles. Auto industry companies can no longer ignore the lack of demand. Since the end of 2023, many companies have thrown in the towel.” – Blaze Media, Jun. 5

“No Such Thing as a Transition Out of Oil & Gas” – Kevin O’Leary on Fox Business, May 28

Michigan considers Road Usage Charge, taxing mileage over fuel – WWMT-TV, Jun. 5

In my humble opinion, all VMT tax schemes are just another backdoor to a carbon tax. As a libertarian, I vote “no” to any law or tax system that furthers the ongoing indoctrination into a digitized society that violates your privacy rights. Along with this, gas vehicles remain cheaper to fuel than EVs. I will close today with an insightful video that attempts to address many underlying issues with VMT taxation, but the solution offered is still a privacy violation that records your personal information into surveillance state databases as described in my series on “The Orwellian Panopticon Majority Report is Born” (thread).

Considering the Trade-Offs… “Properly designing and implementing a VMT tax is not so easy, however. Policymakers must counterbalance simplicity with effectiveness, weighing the administrative costs of the system against the road use accuracy of a VMT measure. They must also consider the very legitimate privacy concerns the public has with government trying to track their driving and must design a system within the bounds of the Constitution (issues have been raised that could preclude mandatory GPS tracking as violative of the 4th, 9th, and 14th Amendments).” – Tax Foundation, May 9

Gasoline Taxes Are Broken; How I Would Fix Them – Madeline Ariah, Jun. 4

Plan Your Trade, Trade Your Plan

TraderStef on Twitter / Website: TraderStef.com

Headline Collage Art by TraderStef