As more drivers turn to zero-emissions vehicles, which don't have to pay anything at the pump, California's gas tax could soon be a thing of the past. But it would be replaced by something else.
I followed the link, then the link to the California Road charge web site. What I was looking for and didn’t find in any place is: “How will the mileage be monitored and how will the fee be collected?” I think those are important questions before one could decide if this is a good plan.
I personally like the idea of taxing tires instead. Since the wear and tear on roads is in direct causation to weight, the faster a tire wears out (because of weight) the more damage to roads would be caused. This means that lighter cars, causing less damage, would replace their tires less frequently, meaning paying less tax.
However, large heavy trucks that do the most damage also would have to replace their tires more often and thereby shoulder more of the burden of road repair, which is appropriate because heavy vehicles are doing much more of the damage.
If a tire tax is to generate enough money for that purpose then it’ll significantly increase the cost of tires. As a consequence, lower income earners will not replace their tires when they should, leading to more road accidents.
As a consequence, lower income earners will not replace their tires when they should, leading to more road accidents.
I’m not a California native, but a quick google search shows that California already has vehicle inspection requirements and if they fail, they are not legal to drive on California roads. Tire wear check could be added as one of those things check and fail it, if tires are in need of replacement.
I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that many many people are driving around on tires that are way below minimum acceptable tread wear here in California. Some of them just don’t understand. Some are incompetent. Some are poor.
When I recently got all 4 of my tires replaced I watched the tire techs warn several customers that the tread on their tires was too low and every single one of them said they couldn’t afford new tires right now so rotate them and let them leave.
A tire tax would likely just increase the number of people trying to stretch a tire way past it’s recommended minimum tread depth for safety in order to save money. This would have a negative effect on road safety in the long run.
Not to mention it would also just incentivise people to put on the hardest and longest lasting rubber they can find meaning that in cold or wet conditions they will have significantly worse performance again leading to more accidents.
When I recently got all 4 of my tires replaced I watched the tire techs warn several customers that the tread on their tires was too low and every single one of them said they couldn’t afford new tires right now so rotate them and let them leave.
It’s not just hitting the poor. Like, if it were, you’d only see the poor living paycheck-to-paycheck. But…that’s not actually the situation. The bulk of it is going to be financial literacy, which at least when I went through school was not something covered at all. I think that financial literacy is seriously an area where the US doesn’t do all that well.
The survey found most Americans (58%) are living paycheck to paycheck. Struggling to make ends meet, many are relying on credit cards to cover any shortfalls. Meanwhile, nearly one-quarter of those surveyed said credit card debt also contributed to their financial stress.
Living paycheck to paycheck means consumers need their next paycheck to meet their monthly obligations. How much of a cash cushion they have is hugely important in determining how far consumers are willing to push their paychecks every month — and how stressed out they might be if faced with an unexpected financial shock.
It’s not about being “poor.” And alternatively, not living paycheck to paycheck isn’t about being “rich” — even though most people prefer to define it in those stark terms.
Instead, we find that paycheck-to-paycheck living spans all income levels, including half of high earners (defined as those earning $100,000 or more each year) as of January 2025. Across all income groups, people report similar abilities to pay their monthly bills without a struggle but needing the next paycheck to stay on track. This implies that living paycheck to paycheck isn’t solely about financial hardship or an inability to meet basic needs, but how people choose to manage their monthly income.
Only time my car has been inspected has been a rare repair or during smog tests, and many are exempt.
Actually, yeah, it was 120,000 mile service. New clutch, water pump, timing belt, and synchro ring. Pretty much the only inspection. Hmmm, timing belt is coming up again…
Only time my car has been inspected has been a rare repair or during smog tests, and many are exempt.
So the process and infrastructure for automobile checks is already in place. The only changes needed would be to remove the exemptions, and potentially increase the frequency. Many states have annual inspections already.
I should clarify, it was a free inspection, courtesy of the shop, with the car in for a repair I scheduled, not at the request of government.
We so have “star stations” where some vehicles can be selected for more elaborate smog-related inspections, but that can be a crapshoot.
I’ve had one car pass only if we installed leaky OEM exhaust pipes on, and another fail because it did not have a CARB decal on the catalytic converter. (Fun fact, the cat we were forced to buy and install didn’t have a decal either, but it “passed” after. Yeah, it was a shakedown)
Just spitballing, how about special markings on the tire. There’s already the CARB system in place, that could be extended to marking tires as compliant and sold in California.
I mean, you can’t make it illegal to purchase tires out-of-state. A driver could wear them down out of state, or just have a tire blow; they’re gonna have to be able to get tires out-of-state, and distributors across the country probably aren’t going to maintain special California-specific stocks.
I’m pretty sure that any system like this would have to permit purchasing the tire and then later assessing the tax one way or another, and it seems like that’d create some significant enforcement issues.
I’m pretty sure that any system like this would have to permit purchasing the tire and then later assessing the tax one way or another, and it seems like that’d create some significant enforcement issues.
That sounds like a good option. People already buy gas out-of-state bypassing the road tax. So the tire taxation doesn’t have to be perfect to be equal or better to today’s solution.
Tire lifetime varies dramatically with the type of tire. I’ve had tires that lasted 10,000 miles and tires that lasted 40,000 miles on the same car and in similar driving conditions. That is a difficult variable to solve for.
Weight in kg x mileage recorded at safety inspection x some factor = tax
Tire wear is not as standard as you are implying. There are many factors in tire wear including the hardness of the rubber compound. Stickier tires for better steering and braking wear faster than, say, high mileage tires for hybrids to get the best MPG or electric range.
The tires on my hybrid are designed for more miles that my Honda that weighs half a ton less.
Tire wear is not as standard as you are implying. There are many factors in tire wear including the hardness of the rubber compound. Stickier tires for better steering and braking wear faster than, say, high mileage tires for hybrids to get the best MPG or electric range.
If you’re looking for a perfect metric for road wear that works across all vehicles, you’re not going to find it. A perfect example of this is today’s gas tax. The size of the vehicle, the engine, the amount of cargo being carried, even the wind direction that day all influence the fuel efficiency of the vehicle and would raise and lower the amount of fuel it would consume, yet the static per gallon tax is levied on each gallon regardless of the day or car. So even today’s gas tax doesn’t capture perfectly the usage.
I’d argue a tire tax gets much closer. You left out one piece of info on your tire comparrison. Those tires are rated for different amounts of miles of use, so that could be added as a metric to get a more accurate taxation:
Not looking for perfect, but I’m not finding consistency with this math. I’ve had tire non-alighment related issues this year including a blowout and crunching scenarios doesn’t come up with a tax applicable to road wear.
I ran rumbers on a few cars I have access to ranging from 2100 lbs to 7100 lbs. You can use estimated miles and load rating, but your tax would be worst case scenarios. I also put larger tires on a very light car because the amount it floated on the freeway stock was disconcerting.
Point is, if everyone had to use OEM, it would be a bit more accurate. But the variety in material, application, and availability adds a lot of variable as to make this moot.
My second lightest and second heaviest car in all my family use the same tire.
Can you talk more about this? Do they charge a flat tax per mile? Is there any allowance if you do most of your driving outside of the state or is the assumption 100% of the mileage is inside the taxed are?
I followed the link, then the link to the California Road charge web site. What I was looking for and didn’t find in any place is: “How will the mileage be monitored and how will the fee be collected?” I think those are important questions before one could decide if this is a good plan.
I personally like the idea of taxing tires instead. Since the wear and tear on roads is in direct causation to weight, the faster a tire wears out (because of weight) the more damage to roads would be caused. This means that lighter cars, causing less damage, would replace their tires less frequently, meaning paying less tax.
However, large heavy trucks that do the most damage also would have to replace their tires more often and thereby shoulder more of the burden of road repair, which is appropriate because heavy vehicles are doing much more of the damage.
If a tire tax is to generate enough money for that purpose then it’ll significantly increase the cost of tires. As a consequence, lower income earners will not replace their tires when they should, leading to more road accidents.
I’m not a California native, but a quick google search shows that California already has vehicle inspection requirements and if they fail, they are not legal to drive on California roads. Tire wear check could be added as one of those things check and fail it, if tires are in need of replacement.
I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that many many people are driving around on tires that are way below minimum acceptable tread wear here in California. Some of them just don’t understand. Some are incompetent. Some are poor.
When I recently got all 4 of my tires replaced I watched the tire techs warn several customers that the tread on their tires was too low and every single one of them said they couldn’t afford new tires right now so rotate them and let them leave.
A tire tax would likely just increase the number of people trying to stretch a tire way past it’s recommended minimum tread depth for safety in order to save money. This would have a negative effect on road safety in the long run.
Not to mention it would also just incentivise people to put on the hardest and longest lasting rubber they can find meaning that in cold or wet conditions they will have significantly worse performance again leading to more accidents.
The tire tax idea seems like a very bad idea.
It’s not just hitting the poor. Like, if it were, you’d only see the poor living paycheck-to-paycheck. But…that’s not actually the situation. The bulk of it is going to be financial literacy, which at least when I went through school was not something covered at all. I think that financial literacy is seriously an area where the US doesn’t do all that well.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/31/61percent-of-americans-live-paycheck-to-paycheck-even-as-inflation-cools.html
Only time my car has been inspected has been a rare repair or during smog tests, and many are exempt.
Actually, yeah, it was 120,000 mile service. New clutch, water pump, timing belt, and synchro ring. Pretty much the only inspection. Hmmm, timing belt is coming up again…
So the process and infrastructure for automobile checks is already in place. The only changes needed would be to remove the exemptions, and potentially increase the frequency. Many states have annual inspections already.
I should clarify, it was a free inspection, courtesy of the shop, with the car in for a repair I scheduled, not at the request of government.
We so have “star stations” where some vehicles can be selected for more elaborate smog-related inspections, but that can be a crapshoot.
I’ve had one car pass only if we installed leaky OEM exhaust pipes on, and another fail because it did not have a CARB decal on the catalytic converter. (Fun fact, the cat we were forced to buy and install didn’t have a decal either, but it “passed” after. Yeah, it was a shakedown)
How do you deal with a California resident getting tires out-of-state?
Just spitballing, how about special markings on the tire. There’s already the CARB system in place, that could be extended to marking tires as compliant and sold in California.
I mean, you can’t make it illegal to purchase tires out-of-state. A driver could wear them down out of state, or just have a tire blow; they’re gonna have to be able to get tires out-of-state, and distributors across the country probably aren’t going to maintain special California-specific stocks.
I’m pretty sure that any system like this would have to permit purchasing the tire and then later assessing the tax one way or another, and it seems like that’d create some significant enforcement issues.
That sounds like a good option. People already buy gas out-of-state bypassing the road tax. So the tire taxation doesn’t have to be perfect to be equal or better to today’s solution.
Tire lifetime varies dramatically with the type of tire. I’ve had tires that lasted 10,000 miles and tires that lasted 40,000 miles on the same car and in similar driving conditions. That is a difficult variable to solve for.
Weight in kg x mileage recorded at safety inspection x some factor = tax
Seems like a straightforward calculation.
EVs are especially heavy, too, and they eat tires much faster than ICE cars. Tire tax is 100% appropriate, and a brilliant idea.
Tire wear is not as standard as you are implying. There are many factors in tire wear including the hardness of the rubber compound. Stickier tires for better steering and braking wear faster than, say, high mileage tires for hybrids to get the best MPG or electric range.
The tires on my hybrid are designed for more miles that my Honda that weighs half a ton less.
If you’re looking for a perfect metric for road wear that works across all vehicles, you’re not going to find it. A perfect example of this is today’s gas tax. The size of the vehicle, the engine, the amount of cargo being carried, even the wind direction that day all influence the fuel efficiency of the vehicle and would raise and lower the amount of fuel it would consume, yet the static per gallon tax is levied on each gallon regardless of the day or car. So even today’s gas tax doesn’t capture perfectly the usage.
I’d argue a tire tax gets much closer. You left out one piece of info on your tire comparrison. Those tires are rated for different amounts of miles of use, so that could be added as a metric to get a more accurate taxation:
Not looking for perfect, but I’m not finding consistency with this math. I’ve had tire non-alighment related issues this year including a blowout and crunching scenarios doesn’t come up with a tax applicable to road wear.
I ran rumbers on a few cars I have access to ranging from 2100 lbs to 7100 lbs. You can use estimated miles and load rating, but your tax would be worst case scenarios. I also put larger tires on a very light car because the amount it floated on the freeway stock was disconcerting.
Point is, if everyone had to use OEM, it would be a bit more accurate. But the variety in material, application, and availability adds a lot of variable as to make this moot.
My second lightest and second heaviest car in all my family use the same tire.
Victoria has an EV tax already, and they basically just ask you to send a picture of your odometer.
Can you talk more about this? Do they charge a flat tax per mile? Is there any allowance if you do most of your driving outside of the state or is the assumption 100% of the mileage is inside the taxed are?
Pet kilometre, yes, and I don’t think you can subtract trips outside the state.
Gotcha, thats good info.
How would you say the system is working? Is it generally accepted by the citizenry?
EV drivers hated it, some others felt it was going to depress uptake of EVs as not having to pay for petrol was a big draw to buying one.
I guess everyone else loves it that they contribute to the roads they’re using and it was bound to happen eventually because it’s only fair.