Neighboring Kansas will conduct a research study, like Oklahoma did last year, to identify alternatives for financing their state’s transportation system.
The Kansas Transportation Department is launching an experiment in which drivers would switch from paying motor fuel taxes at the gasoline pump, to paying taxes per each mile driven. The Sunflower State sought volunteers for a pilot program that begins in April.
The Kansas City Star reported volunteers will keep track of their mileage during a threemonth study.
Current fuel tax rates in Kansas are 24 cents per gallon on gasoline and 26 cents per gallon on diesel. Those rates have been in effect since 2003.
Under a possible mileage tax – or what is called a road usage fee – motorists would be charged about a penny per mile.
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation performed a similar study, “Fair Miles Oklahoma,” in 2023 and submitted their findings to the Legislature last December.
“Fair Miles Oklahoma” was a state Transportation Department research program aimed at identifying alternative approaches to funding the Sooner State’s transportation needs.
The pay-per-mile pilot program, which was mandated by the Oklahoma Legislature, sought to explore potential revenue streams for the state’s roads and bridges while promoting fairness and sustainability.
Ongoing increases in fuel efficiency, combined with the transition to alternative fuels and all-electric vehicles, is decreasing tax receipts for funding Oklahoma’s transportation infrastructure maintenance and future innovation. Fair Miles Oklahoma explored funding options to replace or supplement the state’s motor fuels tax on gasoline and diesel.
The pay-per-mile pilot project began last May and was limited to 445 participants who collectively logged more than a million miles and reported their mileage for six months.
“There were several different ways for participants to report their mileage,” Bryce Boyer, public information manager for ODOT’s Strategic Communications Department, told Southwest Ledger. For example, a volunteer could photograph his/her odometer, employ a plug-in device that measured mileage, or utilize a vehicle’s touch screen.
Participants were selected to maximize both vehicle fuel type and geographic diversity to gain an understanding of how such a program might function across a diverse range of Oklahoma drivers. Only passenger vehicles were used in the pilot program, Boyer said.
According to Boyer:
• 40% of the participants live in rural areas;
• nearly 80% of the volunteers are PikePass customers;
• 12% are members of Native American tribes;
• nearly 8% live in households that fall below the poverty line;
• the participants drove 38 different makes of vehicles;
•20 of the vehicles were electric-powered;
• 17 of the vehicles were hybrids;
• the average milesper- gallon recorded by participants was 22.35 mpg.
Throughout the pilot program, the participants were asked to report their monthly mileage and acknowledge simulated invoices.
Based on the normal driving habits of the participants, the following trends were observed:
• 56% of the volunteers selected a GPS-enabled reporting option.
• Based on the current 20 cents per gallon fuel tax, the average monthly fuel-tax invoice was $10.01.
• Based on a 1-cent rate, the average pay-permile monthly invoice was $10.40.
• Rural participants, with low mpg vehicles, would pay more in a fuel tax than in a pay-permile tax structure.
Results from the Fair Miles Oklahoma payper- mile pilot project “provided critical data to assist the Legislature as they decide how to fund maintenance and improvements in the state’s transportation infrastructure, including state and federal highways, county roads and bridges,” Boyer told the Ledger.