The US government has been mulling various ways of how to pay for Biden’s next big-ticket infrastructure proposal, and one of the recent ideas thrown into the mix has been a vehicle mileage tax.

In an interview with CNBC in Friday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said a tax on miles driven is a proposal that is becoming promising, especially as the Biden administration faces increased pressure to come up with additional funding for its ambitious ‘Build Back Better” infrastructure plan. Buttigieg entertained the idea days before Biden is scheduled to pitch his $3 trillion infrastructure plan in Pittsburgh, which includes proposals to fix US roads and bridges, and funding for ‘social infrastructure’ such as childcare and college.

The tax on miles would address growing shortages in the country’s highway trust fund, which receives funding from gasoline taxes. With more Americans switching to electric vehicles, the fuel tax is creating shortcomings in funding necessary for the maintenance and construction of US roads and bridges.

If materialized, a mileage levy would tax drivers based on the distance of their journey, rather than how much fuel they consume. A mileage tax “shows a lot of promise if we believe in that so-called user-pays principle: The idea that part of how we pay for roads is you pay based on how much you drive,” explained Buttigieg.

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