US Proposals to Introduce a Car Weight Tax (2 photos)

In the US, a proposal has been made to scrap the current fuel tax used for road maintenance and replace it with a new annual tax, the amount of which would be calculated based on the vehicle's weight and levied on all registered vehicles, including electric vehicles.





Notably, this idea comes not from government officials looking for a new way to fill the coffers, but from the Alliance for Automotive Innovation (AAI). Its members include virtually all major automakers with manufacturing facilities in the country, including, for example, General Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Hyundai.

The organization notes that the new tax scheme will not only increase revenue for road maintenance but also distribute this burden more fairly among motorists. Everyone will have to pay, not just those with internal combustion engines. Furthermore, the weight-based tax guarantees that heavier models, which are more damaging to roads, will be subject to higher taxes.

As a reminder, the AAI is not alone in proposing a revision of transportation tax legislation in the US. Congress is already discussing the possibility of introducing a tax exclusively for electric vehicles, and the current fuel tax, which has remained unchanged since 1993 and amounts to 18.4 cents per gallon of gasoline or 24.4 cents per gallon of diesel, is also cited as a reason for this.