Connecticut is going to experiment with a tax on miles driven as opposed to a gas tax. Gas sales and taxes are expected to diminish as electrification proceeds. To be equitable, we should only be taxed on miles driven in state. Why should we pay CT milage tax as well as another state’s gas tax if traveling?

Fixing that requires a device that tracks your location as well as total miles and conveys that information to the bureaucracy. People might say, our cell phones do that. But our cell phones don’t directly transmit that information to a government entity. And then we won’t get gas tax from out of state drivers. How are we going to track their miles?

On another note, people who drive more miles buy more gas. But there’s a rub. Vehicles getting better mileage will face an ad hoc penalty, because if the state wants to keep tax income flat, a truck will pay the same tax as a compact where before the truck paid much more in gas tax.

Ted Genard

Uncasville