The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is trying out a new program called “California Road Charge” to get back the money lost from gas taxes. They want to keep track of how much you drive your car. They’re offering $400 to volunteers who agree to have a tracking device put in their car or send in pictures of their mileage.
Right now, electric cars in California have to pay a $100 fee each year because they don’t pay gas taxes. But regular cars, on average, pay about $300 a year in gas taxes. This program is meant to make things fairer so that everyone contributes to fixing the roads, not just people who drive cars that need gas.
Starting on July 1st, the program will run for six months. Each month, you’ll have to pay for the miles you’ve driven. They’ll keep track of your mileage either with a device in your car, through your car’s built-in system, or by taking pictures of your odometer. They’ll give different rates to different cars to see what works best.
California has over 30 million cars, and most of them use gas or are hybrids. They collect enough money from gas taxes to pay for the roads right now, but with more electric cars on the road, they might not have enough money in the future.
If more people keep buying electric cars and hybrids, the state might not have enough money to fix the roads. They could raise the annual fee for electric cars, like Texas did, but they think tracking mileage is a fairer way to do it.
It’s important to make sure everyone pays their fair share for the roads they use. Gas taxes used to do that, but with more electric cars, we need new ways to pay for road repairs. Tracking mileage might not be popular, but it’s one way California is trying to solve this problem.
