The American Consumer Institute (ACI) commissioned polling to gauge consumer perspectives on infrastructure, gas taxes, and excise taxes. Currently, gas taxes are collected to help pay for the costs of maintaining and building roadways.
Eliminating the gas tax and replacing it with a commercial weight and mileage fee is widely supported, especially after hearing messages that emphasize the cost disparity between heavy trucks and automobiles in terms of road damage and the understanding that the fee primarily impacts corporations rather than individual trucks and everyday drivers.
As strongly as Americans express concerns about the nation’s highways, their willingness to part with the current gas tax in exchange for a weight and mileage fee is nearly matched, not only to address their pressing infrastructure concerns but also to do so in a fair and consumer-friendly way.