LET US KEEP OUR CARS

While inflation still rages and is set to increase with the border surge, Arizona cities like Tucson, Tempe, and Mesa have adopted general plans or Climate Action Plans with explicit goals of adopting policies that will “reduce our reliance on single-occupancy vehicles” and reduce overall Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT).

The Arizona Senate passed two key bills to protect car ownership of everyday Arizonans by prohibiting the taxation of VMTs. The AZ House passed these bills out of Committee, but they haven't gotten a floor vote.

?Please contact your House Legislators and tell them to vote YES on SB1312 & SCR1018.

?SCR108 is especially important because it's a bill that when passed bypasses Katie Hobbs' veto stamp and goes directly to the voters!

?WHY THIS MATTERS:

Scottsdale recently voted to remove two of the four lanes on 68th street. Phoenix, joined by many other cities, has adopted Vision Zero, a plan to eliminate traffic fatalities entirely through traffic calming, narrowing roadways, pushing road diets, and other anti-car measures. The Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) has argued that the Prop 400 extension in Maricopa County increases investments in transit which is key in “taking people out of their cars.”

A VMT tax is uniquely vulnerable to gamesmanship. The rate could be manipulated so that those with higher incomes would pay more for driving or be varied by how “environmentally friendly” (or rather not friendly) your car is, and it could be utilized to institute congestion pricing – charging increasingly higher per mile rates based on when and where you drive. Additionally, premiums could be tacked on for driving in “low emission zones.” And VMT reduction targets that lead to narrowing of roadways impact drivers and commuters, but it also impacts the movement of goods that rely on quality highways and arterials.

People are facing increasingly coercive measures around the world to make it ever more inconvenient to drive, with the ultimate goal of changing behavior so people drive less – which doesn’t actually work. People have already voted, and the result is that 99% prefer to drive their cars, not take transit, walk or bike.

SB1312 and SCR1018 ensure Arizonans can continue making this choice, and that the roads and freeways they drive on when they do work to maximize their mobility, economic opportunity, and freedom, not intentionally induce congestion to make it miserable.