Actually, I have no problem with a market based solution. You buy fuel based on your vehicle’s fuel economy, how much you travel ect. I did the math myself and they are pretty correct in that .01 per mile is approximately the same as .184 per gal. There is no major difference except that it does not allow a more fuel efficent user to gain an advantage over another. It’s just equal application against all users of the highway.
Here in lies the rub though: how do you implement it effectively to where your neighbor can’t steal your ID if you have to punch in a highway tax ID #, or keep the fed gov from putting a GPS system on your car and knowing where you are 24/7/365. If they’d stop robbing the damned trust fund, they could rebuild our roads. Also, if they stopped printing money, the inflationary burn on .184 dollars per gal would actually still be worth a bit more.
The Oregon test they discussed in the article was based on GPS and RFID which combines to acronym EVIL. The GPS tracks where and how far. The RFID reports to the pump and adds the tax.
While I do NOT support any new tax schemes at this time, I can point you to existing technologies that would eliminate your concerns. First, we have odometers. Tampering with them is already a felony. A state could easily assess a mileage-based levy at vehicle registration.
If it's based on fuel efficiency (or has that component), manufacturers already have the ability to install that feature on vehicles (mine has it). Again, when the registration is renewed, the computer would provide the average efficiency over the prior year.
I suppose the trickiest aspect is whether you tax specific miles and not others (are federal highways the only mileage taxed)? Then it becomes an EZ Pass type "solution", merely requiring billions of dollars to install readers at every on and off ramp in America.