How much will driving on this road cost you?

I came across this article via my friend Ryan’s blog this morning. North Carolina is considering implementing a road-use tax that would tax drivers by the mile in order to offset the loss in gas-tax revenue from people driving more fuel-efficient vehicles and driving less in general.

I’m no transportation policy expert, but here’s what I don’t get: You are losing revenue because people are driving less. So your solution is to implement a tax that would make it even more costly for people to drive, hence giving them even fewer incentives to drive?

According to the story, the tax won’t really be that steep for the average driver, and I would support it if the aim was to encourage people to make greater use of public transportation, but not if the goal is to offset revenue losses that stem from people using public transportation more often. It seems like this measure would just exacerbate the revenue problem in the long run. Maybe they need to consider finding additional revenue that doesn’t hinge on people driving more in a time when it’s increasingly trendy and sensible to drive less.