Alliance backs weight‑based vehicle fee ending gas tax
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- Alliance for Automotive Innovation proposes to scrap the federal gas tax and replace it with a single, weight‑based fee on every vehicle, according to a blog post by its president John Bozzella.
- Federal gas tax is 18.4% per gallon, unchanged since 1993, and the Highway Trust Fund has seen declining revenues for 30 years due to inflation and a 24‑point drop in internal‑combustion‑engine vehicle market share since 2016.
- EVs now account for 2.5% of total light‑duty vehicles in operation, while EV sales represented 9.6% of new U.S. light‑duty vehicle sales in 2025; hybrids made up 19% of sales in January 2026.
- Gasoline prices have risen above $4 per gallon amid the Middle East war, prompting a 20% surge in online searches for EVs, which could further shift market share away from gasoline‑powered cars.
- Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates the Highway Trust Fund will become insolvent by 2028 unless funding changes are made, and argues a weight‑based fee could fully fund the $3.5 trillion infrastructure need.
- Proposed weight‑based fee would not require mileage tracking, insulating infrastructure spending from gas‑price shocks and geopolitical disruptions.
Why it matters: The proposal would shift funding responsibility from gasoline consumers to all road users, securing the Highway Trust Fund for the $3.5 trillion infrastructure need while preserving revenue as EV adoption rises; automakers gain a predictable tax structure, while gasoline‑fuel drivers lose the targeted tax.
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