An income-based vehicle mileage tax would be a fairer way to solve America’s road funding crisis.

America’s roads are crumbling and underfunded. One possible solution to this funding crisis is the introduction of a vehicle-miles-traveled (VMT) tax, though this has been criticized as placing a greater burden on poorer drivers. In new research Di Yang, Eirini Kastrouni, and Lei Zhang examine the effects of an income-based VMT where those with higher household incomes paymore. They find that an income-based VMT is much fairer than a flat-rate tax, and also would not have a significant impact on how much people drive.