New bill would look into imposing per-mile tax on California drivers

(The Center Square) – California lawmakers want to study whether a per-mile tax would replace the gas tax so that electric-vehicle drivers would have to pay for using the roadways.

According to Assembly Bill 1421, the new tax, which is also referred to as a road user charge, would be an alternative to the gas tax system.

“We would be good with something that was fair to all cars,” Guy Hall, policy director and strategist for the Sacramento Electric Vehicle Association, told The Center Square on Friday. “We don’t mind a road mileage tax as long as it’s applied to everybody. That would be a concern if it was just applied to EVs.”

While the association supports a tax that requires all drivers to contribute to the maintenance of high-quality roads, Hall wrote to The Center Square in an additional response, the group’s main concern is that incentives to reduce polluti...