Drivers in Albany and across Oregon are expected to all be tooling around in electric vehicles in about 30 years. The implication of that gets little discussion as the legislature prepares to pass its plan to force a near-elimination of fossil fuels and the emissions of greenhouse gas.
Whatever happened to Oregon’s fledgling program of charging motorists a road user fee based on how far they drive? The 2017 legislature seems to have pretty much ignored the effort in favor of higher fuel taxes and registration fees.
As one of the volunteers paying Oregon’s vehicle mileage tax — in theory anyway — I’m thinking the program is needlessly complicated as long as it applies to vehicles powered by conventional fuel. That’s because of all the record keeping necessary to calculate the tiny difference between the mileage tax and the fuel tax already paid.
Oregon’s voluntary road user fee program is puttering along, having produced at least one surprise, and my question is: Now what? Will Oregon take the next step and go for a mandatory system of paying road taxes by the mile?
ODOT’s priorities don’t include highways
If you wonder why our highway problems in Oregon don’t seem to get solved faster, one reason may be that the Department of Transportation has an “action plan” and what the action plan says.
Tags: diversity, ODOT, ODOT Action Plan, Oregon highways, Oregon transportation, road user charge, social equity