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Engineers Local 150 Executive Director Marc Poulos sees “road
usage charge” legislation as a logical solution.
“The federal government and the state government have motor fuel
taxes in place in order to fund highway and bridge construction
both in Illinois and in this country and because the federal
government continues to pass legislation that increases MPG on
vehicles, you have vehicles that pay no motor fuel tax,” Poulos
told The Center Square. “In addition to that, you have other
forms of power for vehicles, mainly electric vehicles. The
fairest and most equitable system is a road usage charge and the
reason why is because regardless of how you power a vehicle, the
road usage charge will charge every vehicle owner by every mile
that they actually drive.”
As many as 1,000 motorists would be tabbed to take part in the
pilot program under Villivalam’s legislation, with all of them
required to report their vehicle’s fuel efficiency and mileage
to the Illinois Department of Transportation. Drivers who pay
more in the gas tax than they would have in mileage would be
granted a refund as other elements of the program are still
being tested.
As it is, Illinois motorists now pay the second-highest motor
fuel tax in the country at 66 cents per gallon.
“People that understand what the road usage charge is, they like
it,” Poulos adds. “People that do not understand what it is,
don't like it.”
While Illinois would be just one of several states weighing such
legislation, not every lawmaker in Springfield is on board with
it.
“It’s just another tax, another attack on the middle class,
which is already struggling to buy health insurance, struggling
to pay their bills, including the accelerated price of
electricity because of the green energy scam,” state Rep. Chris
Miller, R-Oakland, told The Center Square. “All the things that
the Democrats are doing is attacking the middle class, making it
harder for working families and I think it's going to continue
the exodus out of the state because people are just taxed to
death.”
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