FILE - In this Sept. 15, 2009 file photo, a Toyota Motor Corp.'s plug-in hybrid Prius concept vehicle is displayed at the Toyota Tokyo design center in Tokyo, Japan. Toyota Motor Corp. <\/p>\n
A Toyota Prius may save drivers serious cash when it comes to fill-ups at the gas station, but those same fuel-efficient cars are gutting state transportation budgets and leaving infrastructure and maintenance projects hanging in the balance. <\/p>\n
Now several states, which heavily rely on gas taxes to fund transportation infrastructure projects, are looking for other ways to fund road repair projects, and it could mean the government is about to get a little nosier about your driving habits. <\/p>\n
Some policymakers are toying around with the idea of taxing drivers based on the number of miles they travel as opposed to how much gas they usea vehicle miles traveled or \"VMT\" tax. How the state will collect this information is still up in the air, with Oregon's Department of Transportation currently trying to come up with a solution. <\/p>\n
\"The public didn't particularly like that we used a GPS receiver to count miles,\" says Jim Whitty, manager of the Office of Innovative Partnerships and Alternative Funding at the Oregon Department of Transportation. <\/p>\n
[Read: House Hunters Flocking to Foreclosures For Value.] <\/p>\n
A new incarnation of the pilot program set to launch this fall eliminates any \"government box\" installed on vehicles, Whitty says. The program will instead rely on information culled from in-car navigation systems and other driver assistance systems, such as OnStar and SYNC. The state is also experimenting with some lower-tech options, such as allowing motorists to report data through their mobile phones or having drivers prepay for the miles they drive. <\/p>\n
\"The gas tax is dying a slow death with these highly fuel efficient vehicles coming into the marketplace that don't pay any gas tax or hardly any gas tax, [the flat gas tax] just will not survive,\" Whitty says. \"That's being recognized by almost everybody.\" <\/p>\n
According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, states have seen revenue from gas taxes plummet a combined $10 billion a year thanks to a combination of factors, including the increased fuel efficiency of today's vehicles. <\/p>\n
[Read: Democrats Brace for A Month Of Bad News.] <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
See the original post here:<\/p>\n
Eco-Friendly Vehicles Draining State Road Repair Budgets<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" FILE - In this Sept. 15, 2009 file photo, a Toyota Motor Corp.'s plug-in hybrid Prius concept vehicle is displayed at the Toyota Tokyo design center in Tokyo, Japan Continue reading