Exactly. Plus, the tax should include some function including weight of vehicle. Though it pains me to say this, my 9,000 lbs truck is probably harder on the road than my daughter's prius. So, 10,000 miles on the road in my truck would do more damage than the same miles in her prius. I'm thinking something along these lines:
1. Vehicles would have to have mileage checks done to be registered.
2. Each year, the mileage would have to be verified prior to registering again.
3. Tax paid would be in the form of a straight $.10 per gallon which is less than the current $.189 per gallon we all pay in federal gas tax. Plus, there would be a tax based on weight of vehicles and number of miles driven. It would look something like this:
[(# miles driven/1,000) X (weight / 6000)] X (tax rate factor)
### I'll use 6 as the tax factor and 6,000 lbs as the weight factor. A 6,000 lb car would have a weight factor of 1.0 ###
Federal gas tax is 18.4¢ per gallon right now. Drop that to 10.0¢ per gallon.
For this example, assume you currently drive 10,000 miles a year.
Under current rules:
Case A: 10,000 lb truck that gets 15 mpg. Tax burden is $122.67
Case B: 2,765 lb prius that gets 40 mpg. Tax burden is $47.25
Case C: 4,647 lbTesla that uses no gas. Tax burden is $0.
Total tax collected is $169.92
The tesla uses the road but does not pay for the upkeep which makes it unfair to all other tax payers.
The new system:
Case A: 10,000 lb truck that gets 15 mpg. Tax burden is $66.67+$100=$166.67. (Tax burden is tax per gallon + weight-miles tax)
Case B: 2,765 lb prius that gets 40 mpg. Tax burden is $25+$27.65=$52.64
Case C: 4,647 lb Tesla that uses no gas. Tax burden is $0+46.47=$46.47
Total tax collected = $265.78
This would be an incentive to buy lighter, less damaging, higher mileage vehicles while those car owners would still contribute to road maintenance.
Case D: 1,300 lb Elio at 84 mpg: Tax burden is $11.90+$12.99=$24.89