Vermont’s policymakers have known for years that as more people opt to buy electric vehicles, the money the state brings in from its gasoline tax will decline significantly.
That’s led to a conundrum: Officials want to replace that cash — which pays for vital infrastructure projects and constitutes more than a quarter of all state transportation revenue — while still encouraging Vermonters to switch to electric. This year’s omnibus transportation bill, H.479, tasks officials with fleshing out a solution.
The legislation, which cleared the Vermont House last month and is now in the Senate, would charge the Agency of Transportation with designing a system by July 1, 2025, to charge electric vehicle drivers a fee based on how many miles they drive.