The San Diego Association of Governments’ Board of Directors voted 15-4 Friday to remove the controversial regional road user fee, also known as the mileage tax, from SANDAG’s 2025 Regional Plan.
In December 2021, SANDAG approved the 2021 Regional Transportation Plan with no mileage tax, but some questions remained about how the agency would fund the $165 billion plan.
The plan would charge San Diego drivers 4 cents per mile starting in 2030. SANDAG estimates that road use taxes could collect more than $34 billion by 2050, but the agency’s chief economist, Ray Major, said the final numbers would change after 2030. He said he was deaf. The scope was narrowed to implementation of the proposal in 2030.
“Since its creation, San Diegans have been adamantly opposed to the mileage tax, a policy that threatens the core principles of American freedom and imposes a disproportionate burden on the majority of local residents. Today, we proudly announce our dedication and unified stance on the mileage tax, “to eliminate this regressive tax,” El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells said in a statement.
San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones spearheaded the excise tax collection and led a protest in front of SANDAG’s offices ahead of the board’s 8:30 a.m. Friday morning meeting.
“Despite years of political rhetoric suggesting removing this tax from regional transportation plans, the mileage tax remains part of SANDAG’s strategic blueprint,” she said in a statement. “Ahead of this pivotal meeting, SANDAG board members are taking a firm stand and demanding the definitive removal of this tax from future plans.”
But San Diego County Board of Supervisors Chair Nora Vargas said much of the concern stems from misinformation.
“The former SANDAG Board of Directors [Road User Charge] “It will be removed from the regional plan,” she said in a statement. “SANDAG is working on this and will be submitting an amendment to the state. The state will make the final decision. Let me be clear: No government agency can enter our region without voter approval. It does not have the power to introduce taxes that have an impact.”
Last September, SANDAG’s board of directors voted to remove the company from SANDAG’s regional transportation plan after several Democratic lawmakers opposed the proposal at the last minute.
SANDAG Executive Director Hasan Ikrata went ahead with plans to maintain the charges anyway. Mr. Ikrata subsequently announced his resignation from the Regional Planning Agency, effective December 29.
San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond, a frequent critic of SANDAG’s regional transportation plans, said the organization “needs a plan that the entire region can buy into instead of a dire situation and mileage tax.” Stated.
“We have an important opportunity to speak out against this intrusive and burdensome tax policy,” Desmond said before the board meeting. “If you oppose paying per mile and don’t want your trips tracked or taxed, now is the time to act.”
The board is made up of representatives from the county’s 18 municipalities and the county as a whole.
