Smucker wants electric vehicles to help pay for road maintenance

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-PA) unveiled legislation last week that would create a user fee for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles to contribute to the upkeep of America’s roads. 

“Our nation’s crumbling roads and highways need investment to support maintenance of critical highway and road infrastructure. Yet electronic vehicles, which are a growing share of cars on the road, contribute nothing to their upkeep,” Rep. Smucker said.

On June 17, the congressman introduced the Using Sustainable Energy Resources to Fund Equitable e-Transportation (USER FEE) Act, H.R. 1416, to impose a tax on certain electric vehicles in order to replenish the cash-strapped Highway Trust Fund, which finances the federal government’s surface transportation programs.

Currently, federal fuel taxes and other fees fund the Highway Trust Fund, but electric vehicles do not pay into that transportation fund. The Highway Trust Fund faces an estimated cumulative shortfall of nearly $110 billion over the next six fiscal years. 

“Congress needs to address the long-term solvency issues of the Highway Trust Fund by ensuring parity with the gas-powered vehicles. Funding for infrastructure projects, particularly highways and roads, have been user-fee driven for years, and it is time for Congress to act to provide funding equity by ensuring electric vehicles are paying their fair share and contributing to the maintenance of the roads they drive on,” Rep. Smucker said. 

Under H.R. 1416, electric vehicles would pay a user fee based on two cents per mile traveled, while plug-in hybrid vehicles would be charged one cent per mile traveled, according to a summary of the bill. The Department of Treasury would be directed to work with states to voluntarily establish agreements to administer the fees through the regulation of vehicle registrations, the congressman’s office said.