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By Kyle B. Hansen (contact) 
Friday, April 23, 2010 | 2:05 a.m.
Nevada Department of Transportation Director Susan Martinovich.
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Nevada transportation officials are defending their efforts to study an alternative to the fuel tax, despite the loss of support from some of the program’s other backers.
Department of Transportation Director Susan Martinovich emphasized that the department is only studying a fee for vehicle miles traveled, not proposing anything specific.
“The intent is just to look at another mechanism” to fund transportation projects, Martinovich said in a meeting Thursday with the Las Vegas Sun’s editorial board.
Late last month, the transportation department announced it had developed a prototype device that could be used to tax people based on the miles they drive rather than the fuel their cars consume.
Days later, the Washoe County and Southern Nevada regional transportation commissions, which helped fund the study, said they will not help pay for the remainder of the study.
Transportation department officials said they expect the highway bill under works in Congress to include money to fund studies on alternative methods of collecting a transportation tax.
The problem for Nevada and other states is the increasing fuel efficiency of cars, which Martinovich says is a good thing. But while the Obama administration plans to require even greater fuel efficiency, the result is a drop in fuel taxes that fund road projects.
The result is that the state expects transportation funds to be $40 million short by 2014.
Raising the gas tax isn’t the solution because of the increasing use of hybrid and electric cars, which still cause wear and tear on roads but don’t pay much into the gas tax fund.
Meanwhile, Nevada is stuck paying the bonds on previous road projects, including the widening of U.S. 95 and Interstate 15, plus maintenance costs of existing roads, leaving little or no money left for future projects.
“We don’t have enough money projected into the future to address the needs,” Martinovich said. “From here going forward, there’s a lot of uncertainty.”
The department’s current study is to get the state ready with data for when the federal government seeks input on solutions, the director said.
“If it starts being discussed nationally, we’ll have a spot at the table,” Martinovich said.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has started a similar study in conjunction with the University of Iowa, and 16 other states have their own studies into similar technologies.
Until the federal government takes action, Nevada is not likely to implement any new program, officials said.
“We’re going to have gas tax for the foreseeable future, but we have to plan ahead,” said state transportation department Deputy Director Scott Rawlins. “It’s important for us as an agency to look to the future.”
The department is holding a public meeting on the study from 4 to 7 p.m. April 29 at the Clark County Government Center to gather public input on the study.
They think this is gonna work...Check out Oregon they been doing this years it has been a strongarm robbery to put it bluntly
no one will drive and no one will spend.
Why reinvent the wheel here? First of all, a gas tax is shared by Nevadans and tourists alike. A device installed in Nevada vehicles wouldn't tax the millions of tourists and thru-traffic drivers who travel on our roads each year.
A gas tax is easy to understand, implement, enforce, and requires virtually no investment in new technology. Keep it simple.
Also, a gas tax achieves a more desirable measure: not only will we tax you for traveling on our roads (i.e., miles driven), but we'll also hit you harder if you drive a gas guzzling vehicle (i.e., MPG).
Here's more information about a potential increased gas tax:
If we added a 10-cent gas tax to every gallon sold in Nevada, the average Nevada driver would likely pay $50 per year over what he/she now pays. (Assuming 12,000 in-state miles per year at 24 mpg.)
If 67% of Nevadans were drivers who paid the tax, we'd raise over $88M from Nevadans. (67% of 2,600,000 Nevadans)
In addition to Nevadans paying some of their own way, we'd also reap a windfall from tourists who drive in Nevada. If 25% of all tourists who visit Nevada each year drive a car while here (their own car or a rental) and fill up one tank of 15 gallons, then each of those tourists would contribute about $1.50 during their time in Vegas to our gas tax. That would lead to another $15M each year from tourists. (Assuming 50M tourists per year to the entire state.)
A gas tax like this would cost the average Nevada household about $75 (average of 1.5 vehicles per home) per year over today's prices and would generate more than $100M in sustainable annual revenue. The $15M from tourists would obviously fluctuate in good/bad times, but the $88M base from Nevadans would be constant and reliable.
The thing I like about something like this is that we - Nevadans - step up and pay for more of our own government-provided services. $75 per year is a far cry from a 5% state income tax, but it's a normal and reliable tax base that (1) causes Nevadans to foot the bill for our own services, (2) places a modest tax on a small percentage of tourists, and (3) provides incentives for people to drive less (i.e., less traffic, less emissions).
A gas tax WONT WORK in the future. Its that simple. IT WONT WORK. Get that through your thick skulls.
Gas prices will hit $4/gal this summer. Guess what? In October the first real, usable, daily driver electric vehicles are going to hit the streets (Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf). By 2015 they'll become affordable, about $3000 more than a hybrid with savings that pay itself back in the first 4 years.
Then what? I wont be paying my fair share of fuel taxes. I'm still using the roads, but not gasoline.
Gas tax is still the fairest revenue source. Heavier vehicles naturally use more gas per mile traveled, and burn more gas stuck in rush hour traffic.
We already subsidize clean air hybrid/battery technology with rebates so why not with a little gas tax too. Seeing as the owners are willing to spend extra money to help move the technology forward today so that I can have cleaner air tomorrow.
I would be OK with Hybrid and Electric vehicles being taxed by the electronic mileage boxes when the time comes. Make them installed by the New Car Dealer and have older ones retrofitted by the Dealer at the States expense. No way consumers should have to pay for a tax box unless they can take the expense out as dollar for dollar tax credit.