To help fund roads, WA lawmakers eye fee on delivery of online purchases

New revenue options are needed as gas tax collections lag behind rising maintenance costs. “This is not a done deal,” says the leader of Senate transportation panel.

Washington State Standard By Jerry Cornfield June 19, 2024

A fleet of electric delivery vehicles charges. A new network of stations up and down the West Coast could accelerate the adoption of more electric vehicles across the region. (Mustafa Hussain/Getty Images)

A fee tacked onto the delivery of many retail and online purchases could generate millions of dollars a year for maintaining city and county roads in Washington.

State lawmakers now must decide if it’s an option worth pursuing as they, and local government leaders, wrestle with increasing costs of transportation upkeep and decreasing collections from the gas tax — the primary source of money for road work.

“Clearly our cities, our counties and our state have transportation challenges with too many potholes and too much traffic,” said Sen. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, following Tuesday’s meeting of the Joint Transportation Committee, a bipartisan and bicameral panel that he chairs.

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