California midterms will decide fate of controversial new mileage tax: state rep

California’s November midterm elections could determine whether a controversial tax charging motorists for every mile they drive moves forward.State Assemblyman Carl DeMaio warns that Democrats could use their two-thirds majority in the state Legislature to advance a statewide mileage-based tax, and says that breaking that supermajority in the 2026 election would effectively block the proposal.Under the plan described by DeMaio, motorists could be charged between six and nine cents for every mile driven, in addition to existing gas and vehicle taxes.Drivers would have their mileage recorded electronically or undergo annual mileage inspections before receiving a bill based on how far they traveled, according to DeMaio.At the lower six-cent rate, someone driving 15,000 miles annually would pay an additional $900 per year.DeMaio argues that would be roughly equivalent to adding 87 cents per gallon to the gas tax.“Because of the extreme policies of Democrats in Sacramento, California has the highest cost of living in the nation – and now the Democrats want to make it worse by imposing a crazy new Mileage Tax on all drivers,” he said.The Republican lawmaker claims the additional revenue would not necessarily translate into better roads and has accused state leaders of diverting money already collected from motorists toward other priorities.“We already pay a gas tax and a car tax for roads that are falling apart, and that money has been diverted elsewhere,” DeMaio explained.He also argues that a per-mile charge could disproportionately affect working-class Californians with longer commutes because high housing costs have pushed them farther from major employment centers.Efforts to explore mileage-based alternatives to the gas tax have been underway in California for years.A mileage tax pilot program was included in SB 1 in 2018, according to DeMaio, while officials in San Diego County later considered a county-level version in 2021 before abandoning the effort...