Illinois Is Planning To Tax The Distance You Drive
Taxes are as ingrained in the automotive sector as any other.
From sales tax to fuel tax and so on, there is simply no avoiding taxes when you own a car. The state of Illinois is now looking to add another way to tax drivers, this time with a mileage-based road usage charge that has built-in privacy protections. Sounds fishy.
This isn't the first time we've heard of proposed legislation that would tax drivers based on how many miles they drive, but it doesn't make us feel any better about it. With so many existing taxes—including those built-in examples like gas and also highway use in the form of tolls—it's not really like anyone needs another way for the government to get into their pocket. You're able to drive to your heart's content so long as you can pay for the fuel.
Thanks to Senator Ram Villivalam, the Illinois government is looking for another way to make you pay for it. Senate Bill 1938 is called the Illinois Road Usage Charge Act, it seeks to find out whether drivers should be taxed, based on how many miles they drive.
Knowing how many miles you drive is the big question at hand. Between GPS and factory-installed electronics, there are already plenty of ways for the government to track your mileage. But for older cars or those who have opted out of such services, odometer reporting might be the way of going about things. It all sounds bad.
There is a part of the bill that says the state would collect the least amount of personal information possible, for whatever that's worth. Do you really trust the government to do the right thing?
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In addition to Bill 1938, there's also Senate Bill 3566. This one is of a very different nature, instead looking at electric vehicles (EVs) and the owners behind them. 3566 would offer EV drivers the option to pay 1.5 cents per mile driven annually (capped at $320), or a single-pay $320 payment.
Whether either of these bills will make it any further is anyone's guess, but we can't say we're confident in either becoming reality.
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Based in Connecticut, Ross hosts The Hooniverse Podcast. He has been in the off-road world since he was a kid riding in the back of his dad’s YJ Wrangler. He works in marketing by day and in his free time contributes to Hooniverse, AutoGuide, and ATV.com, and in the past has contributed to UTV Driver, ATV Rider, and Everyday Driver. Ross drives a 2018 Lexus GX460 that is an ongoing build project featured on multiple websites and the podcast.
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They should charge the EV's by a mileage based tax, not a flat fee, which is not fair at all. That's how the great state of PA does it. A flat fee of $250 this year and it goes up every year after that, which is totally unfair since the gas tax remains steady. Very simple to do mileage based as the cars have yearly state inspections where the mileage is noted and that can be submitted to the state to charge a fair tax on the miles driven. I do not drive that many miles for the amount of tax I'm paying if I compare the taxes charged versus a gas powered/taxed vehicle.
Gas tax is the perfect road "maintenance fee", as long as this gas "maintenance fee" ALL goes towards the roads upkeep.
EV's should be charged by the mile an equivalent amount that an average ICE car pays in gas tax per mile. How else will they pay their share for road upkeep?