I traveled a lot to Western NC, so I really got to know, love and respect your residents and beautiful state. Many of my friends retired there (maybe me soon!)

BUT--this crack-pot idea to grab more of our green is a bit much. When will politicians learn the simple part of an equation: "LESS MONEY means LESS SPENDING."

NC Drivers May be Charged By The Mile

We already pay one of the highest state fuel taxes in the nation and Raleigh still can't pay for maintaining the roads? Sounds like a spending problem instead of a taxing problem, but what do I know? I'm just a stupid conservative.

I don't see this ever happening.  More toll roads yes but not pay per mile

This is stupid

I am getting more sick of this state every day...and am a 41 year native.
Just wait until the morons put a democrap gov back in, guarantee you
this will come up again. It has been floating around in the news for
several years now.

Major Hensley, have you ever considered running for office?

If not, you should.

This is an extremely tricky situation with a lot of problems and no clear solution. One thing that I believe always gets missed is how IMPORTANT the transportation network is to the entire state. The better your transportation system the faster things happen i.e. efficiency in the work place as your spend less time in transit on the road and more time being productive (in your person life and mental well being as well). Better transportation leads to a growth in business development and expansion as it is cheaper to move things from place to place thus being more marketable than areas with horrible traffic conditions (i.e. we save money on shipping for the gun stuff we buy online ). And the easier it is to get to your location, the more customers wanna visit. The better your roadways are, the safer they are as well. This may not only save your life or a loved ones life directly but it also saves everyone money as insurance rates would be lower. Honestly I could go on all night about how this issue affects your daily life in both you wallet and sanity.

Now that I've either grabbed your attention or you've skipped to the next line lets talk about the problem. Let's just look at it from a federal government level to illustrate the point. The federal gas tax of 18.4 cents per gallon hasn't change since 1993 under Clinton; however, cars have became drastically more fuel efficient  in that same time period (which is a good thing, mainly for energy independence). Additionally, inflation has risen dramatically meaning that it is now significantly more expense to replace (let alone maintain) the existing roadway network. As if that wasn't enough there are also more vehicles on the road and heavier trucks which add to inefficiency but mainly degrade the pavement structure faster. Wrap that all together and you have one hell of a funding short fall which will only continue to get worse if you don't fix the problem (just look at our national debt).

So what's my solution you ask? Well the best one I've come up with is a combination. First, we keep the gas tax as it only makes since to pay for what you use BUT you change it from a flat 18.4 cents/gal to a percentage based system that will help account for inflation say 6.5%/gal (so if a gallon cost $3.00 without taxes it would be $3.195 with federal taxes only). Additionally, I would add a 1 cent sales tax to the entire state. Lets call it "Pennies for Progress" (credit York County SC for the name). Now this tax has to be handle carefully meaning that there is a limit on the amount that you can be taxed for each purchase, we'll set that cap a $1 per purchase. The next and VERY important precaution you have to take is that those funds can ONLY be used for transportation projects wether it be roads, harbors, mass transit, or airports. If this is not done, some greedy politician will steal those funds and use them towards something else (the "Affordable Care Act" comes to mind). Now I know this isn't perfect as there needs to be a better way to tax electric cars and the like but it is doing SOMETHING rather than just avoiding the problem and letting it get worse. But what do I know, I only face these problems on a daily basis as an engineer that is constantly asked the same question: "when are you gonna fix that road?"

Welcome to the NC Hometown Forum.   Nice to have an educated member in here....

Check in here.

After rereading your proposal, I'm gonna have to say , "Get someone else to write your shit."  

I agree with some of your ideas, but you need to get together with whoever drilled that crap into your brain.  


I'm out................. /

how bout NO. maybe they could compensate for some of the effects of inflation by paying fewer cheifs, planners and pencile pushers and use the money saved for maintenance. roads don't need re-engineered to be repaved.

and on top of that I don't care if you make the roads out of marble... hell would freeze over before insurance, shipping, or any other companies are going lower their prices... on the contrary, the tax payer will be paying to improve their bottom line. They are in business to make as much profit as possible. 101 real world vs. engineer think stuff right there.

but back to the topic of the thread, the fair thing to do is average the gas mileage of the majority of cars on the road and use that as a base line to tax electric vehicles per mile driving.  



o yeah, welcome to ARF.

I drive around 60,000 business miles per Year (sales).

If this proposed law comes to be.....I think I'm tapping out.  I think this law would dig into my pocket for another $350 or so.  Not a huge deal but still another slap in the face.

NC already has excessive gas taxes compared to the rest of the SouthEast.

This will be another push to force me to move across the border into SC.

Shouldn't have picked a political issue for the first post

To golfroot: Not sure why someone else needs to "write my shit." It's a forum post and not a technical paper. But I did check into the Hometown forum and thanks for the welcome.

To JAGERBOMBER: Those pencil pushers and planners save everyone money in the long run. I see it everyday. Insurance is already cheaper in states with safer roadway networks right now. Also look at how many business have relocated from Atlanta to Charlotte. The transportation system is a big reason for their move. All 101 real world stuff. Thanks for the welcome.

To Lex: Your right, NC does have a high gas tax. But they do maintain the 2nd largest highway system in the nation behind Texas. As far as SC, there facing alotta problems going forward. SC DOT couldn't even pay there bills for three months last year. It really put a hurting on the small business that I work for. Pretty shitty if you ask me.

I'm defiantly not trying to offend anyone here or get into some inter-web's pissing contest. Just trying to report the facts since I know a little about 'em.

Again, thanks for the welcome and it's been good to debate with y'all. But I think I'll stay outta the political issue's from now on .