Vehicle Mileage Fee Primer

Overview

This primer provides an overview of vehicle mileage fees and is structured to highlight:

• Frequently asked questions about vehicle mileage fees
• Long-term concerns with the current fuel tax system
• The argument for vehicle mileage fees
• Experiences with mileage fees and other road pricing strategies in the U.S. and abroad, including pilot studies in Oregon and the Puget Sound region of Washington and a national evaluation led by USDOT and the University of Iowa
• Assessing , collecting, and enforcing vehicle mileage fees
• Public policy questions (e.g. Do VMT fees replace or supplement the fuel tax? Should fees be compulsory or voluntary? How will revenue be distributed?)

Challenges to implementation, namely public acceptance barriers and concerns over privacy and data security, efficient spending of revenue collected, losing an incentive for fuel efficiency, and equity