A prepaid gas tax for road, bridge repair? That’s what one Ohio senator is proposing

The cost to build roads and bridges and technology that has vehicles using less and less fuel are two of the main reasons behind state Sen. Bill Coley’s proposal that drivers prepay an annual fuel tax when they renew their vehicle registrations.

That cost would be in the neighborhood of $114 a year, in addition to whatever each driver pays annually when they register their vehicles, according to calculations from state officials.

Cars are getting better and better gas mileage every year, he said, noting there are more and more vehicles also running on compressed natural gas and electricity.

“There’s fewer and fewer gallons of motor fuel consumed for every mile driven, and yet it’s not getting any cheaper to build roads and bridges in the state of Ohio,” Coley, of Liberty Twp., told News Center 7’s Tavares Jones in an interview Wednesday.

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The discussion among lawmakers was to make sure the government has an alternative to the pennies-per-gallon approach to funding roads and bridges, he said, and a prepaid fuel tax is one way the state could raise the $1.9 billion in gas tax revenue.

Coley said legislators looked at what an average car uses in terms of fuel. The $114 number is derived by dividing the gas tax revenue by the estimated 10 million vehicles registered in Ohio (the proposed fuel tax would be more for trucks, less for cars).

He said the program would work this way: When you register your vehicle, you could pay the fuel tax up front and receive a card (like a debit card). Each time you buy gas, you swipe the card and the 28 cents a gallon -- or whatever the tax is -- would come off the cost of buying the fuel because the tax has been prepaid.

“So, [drivers] would save at the pump every time they filled up,” Coley said.

Ohioans would not be paying any more because of the tax, but it would generate another $300 million to $400 million a year because an estimated 15 to 18 percent of motor fuel purchased in Ohio each year is purchased by out-of-state drivers.

They would have the chance to prepay the tax for the year or pay extra at the pump when they fill up, he said.

People in surrounding states pay three, four or five times more to register their vehicles, he said.

Coley said he has enough co-sponsors to carry the proposed legislation forward.

We will update this story as it develops.