Comment Re:Do we really need GPS to track mileage ? (Score 1) 891
There are bigger issues that many people seem to be overlooking. First of all, the individual States pay for the vast majority of the highways, the Federal funds are not nearly as important as is often assumed. Second, in some States highways and roads are paid for entirely by gas taxes and use fees, a big chunk of which would evaporate if people stopped burning gas which raises the question of how to pay for the highways. In such cases that I am familiar with, gas taxes account for 60% of the highway budget with use fees (e.g. car registration fees) making up the rest. This model has a lot of advantages and efficiencies in practice, mostly due to the government not having a guaranteed budget.
You could increase use fees 150% to make up the shortfall, but that has two problems. First, it makes it a lot more expensive to own a car even if you do not drive it very often, which will have an adverse impact on some groups of people and reduce elasticity. Second, it will encourage people to register their vehicles in adjacent states where highways are (inefficiently) paid via other kinds of taxes. Vehicle registration shopping between adjacent states already happens in some parts of the US.