Arizonans to vote on whether to prevent per-mileage tax

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(The Center Square) - Arizona is considering a preventative step to block a per-mileage tax.

In November, Arizona voters will decide on Proposition 141, a constitutional amendment that would prevent state and local governments from instituting a per-mileage tax or fee based on the number of miles a vehicle travels.

The proposition also prohibits these entities from creating laws that monitor or restrict vehicle miles traveled without a person’s approval.

Proposition 141 would not apply to state or local government-owned vehicles or commercial vehicles operating in more than one state.

Jay Beeber, the chief policy officer for the National Motorist Association, said the association, which defends motorists' rights, supports Proposition 141.  

Beeber told The Center Square it's a good idea for states like Arizona to “be proactive” and ensure they don't implement a per-mileage tax. The tax “would be an additional cost of driving,” he explained.

Four states currently have a per-mileage tax: Hawaii, Oregon, Utah and Virginia.

He said several states, such as Massachusetts, Michigan and California, have considered implementing a mileage tax.

At the federal level, in 2021, as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Department of Transportation ran a per-mileage tax pilot program to see whether the tax could help sustain the Federal Highway Trust Fund.

As technology continues to improve, Beeber said he can see more states considering implementing a per-mileage tax.

“Government is always looking for a way to bolster [its] revenues,” he said.

Governments talk about replacing the gas tax, but Beeber said it is “not very often that government gives up a way of taxing people.”

Senate Minority Leader Priya Sundareshan, D-Tucson, said she opposed Proposition 141, calling it “bad policy for transportation.”

She said the proposition is “counterproductive to efforts to provide a secure funding source” for Arizona’s roads.

Sundareshan told The Center Square the proposition would allow “electric vehicles to continue not contributing towards road funding.” She called the proposition a “gift to the electric vehicle industry.”

“Road funding is a complicated matter, and I do think there does need to be a more inclusive and updated approach to our transportation funding,” she said.

If the Legislature ever proposed a per-mileage tax, Sundareshan said Democrats “would look into” the matter.

Sundareshan said a per-mileage tax is not “her preferred method,” adding that she would consider a tax based on the weight of a car.

“A weight-based mechanism might be the most equitable and just approach to ensuring that the wear and tear on the roads is paid for by those who are causing” the damage on Arizona’s roads, she explained.

Sundareshan said there is “bipartisan recognition” that the state’s “road transportation funding mechanism is woefully inadequate and behind the times.” A 2026 report from the Tax Foundation found that 56.2% of road-related user revenues go toward highway spending, which ranked 27th nationwide.

"The gas tax is the only thing that funds Arizona’s road construction, and it hasn't been updated since the 1990s,” the Senate minority leader told The Center Square. Arizona’s current gas tax is 18 cents per gallon.

Eric Fowler, chair of the Maricopa County Libertarian Party, said the government needs to examine how it spends its money on fixing roads. “Another tax scheme is not how you build the roads."

“There’s too much waste, fraud, and abuse in the government to ask for yet another tax for these roads,” he told The Center Square.

Fowler said the proposition is attempting to constrain “the government before it does something terribly bad.” He added that getting ahead of issues like this is much easier than playing defense after the government has already implemented the policy.

Spencer Kamps, vice president of legislative affairs at the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona, said the association supports Proposition 141, noting that any potential per-mileage tax would “significantly impact [its] workers and their ability to travel around the Valley to various job sites.”

The association’s workers' No. 1 challenge is “accessibility to the job site and workspaces” across the Phoenix Valley, he told The Center Square.

In the future, the association doesn’t want to see any policy that makes it harder for people to enter the construction workforce or access a job site, Kamps said.

“Labor is an issue in Arizona," he noted. "We want [fewer] barriers to people working in the state, not more."