How will the roads be financed when there is no gas tax? Will there be an electronic distance-based toll system?

Governments whose budgets depend on gasoline tax revenue could shift to taxing miles rather than gasoline or diesel.

In our 2017 report Rethinking Transportation 2020-2030, we noted that “almost $50 billion in revenues from gasoline taxes will be lost” each year in the U.S. alone due to the end of the use of liquid fuels. “However,” we continued, “governments whose budgets depend on this revenue could shift to taxing miles rather than gasoline or diesel.”

Explore the evidence...

• In our report we provided suggestions for decision-makers to adapt metrics and taxation to fit the new system. One example being, for transportation, to move taxes and fees for Transport-as-a-System (TaaS) to a cents-per-mile basis to replace gasoline tax and annual vehicle fees. Keep gasoline taxes for internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles as the industry winds down. Do not tax solar self-generation or energy storage, only tax sales to the grid or third parties. Read p69 of our Rethinking Humanity report to find out more about how decision-makers can accelerate the new system of production that will emerge in transportation, and other industries.
• Read more about transportation disruption metrics on p35 of our Rethinking Transportation report.

Witness the transformation

Investors and policymakers will face choices in the near term that will have a lasting impact. At critical junctures, their decisions will either help accelerate or slow down the disruption of transportation and transition to TaaS.