Posted on 02/15/2005 10:16:10 AM PST by Attention Surplus Disorder
States Mull Taxing Drivers By Mile CORVALLIS, Ore., Feb. 14, 2005
(CBS) College student Jayson Just commutes an odometer-spinning 2,000 miles a month. As CBS News Correspondent Sandra Hughes reports, his monthly gas bill once topped his car payment.
"I was paying about $500 a month," says Just.
So Just bought a fuel efficient hybrid and said goodbye to his gas-guzzling BMW.
And what kind of mileage does he get?
"The EPA estimate is 60 in the city, 51 on the highway," says Just.
And that saves him almost $300 a month in gas. It's great for Just but bad for the roads he's driving on, because he also pays a lot less in gasoline taxes which fund highway projects and road repairs. As more and more hybrids hit the road, cash-strapped states are warning of rough roads ahead.
Officials in car-clogged California are so worried they may be considering a replacement for the gas tax altogether, replacing it with something called "tax by the mile."
Seeing tax dollars dwindling, neighboring Oregon has already started road testing the idea.
"Drivers will get charged for how many miles they use the roads, and it's as simple as that," says engineer David Kim.
Kim and his team at Oregon State University equipped a test car with a global positioning device to keep track of its mileage. Eventually, every car would need one.
"So, if you drive 10 miles you will pay a certain fee which will be, let's say, one tenth of what someone pays if they drive 100 miles," says Kim.
The new tax would be charged each time you fill up. A computer inside the gas pump would communicate with your car's odometer to calculate how much you owe.
The system could also track how often you drive during rush hour and charge higher fees to discourage peak use. That's an idea that could break the bottleneck on California's freeways.
"We're getting a lot of interest from other states," says Jim Whitty of the Oregon Department of Transportation. "They're watching what we're doing.
"Transportation officials across the country are concerned about what's going to happen with the gas tax revenues."
Privacy advocates say it's more like big brother riding on your bumper, not to mention a disincentive to buy fuel-efficient cars.
"It's not fair for people like me who have to commute, and we don't have any choice but take the freeways," says Just. "We shouldn't have to be taxed."
But tax-by-mile advocates say it may be the only way to ensure that fuel efficiency doesn't prevent smooth sailing down the road.
Not endorsing the idea, but by any measure it should be by ton-mile, not by mile. A mile in a Corolla chews up a lot less road (metinks) than a mile in a Hummer. Gas tax kinda automatically accounts for this. And this idea indirectly penalizes efficiency, an all round dumb idea. Which means it's sure to catch on.
Gasoline would be cheap without the taxes heaped upon it. There's no mention of removing those gas taxes when they go to the per-mile tax, is there?
Yes, inspection sticker time. However, how often is that...once per year. Imagine getting your tax bill for driving your car once a year. First, the government wouldn't have the money for a long time. Second, just how upset would the taxpayer be with that bill? JMHO, but I don't think that would work.
Hacking the clocks which would make you get taxed more will be common place.
Sounds like a bad idea to me. In fact it sounds like it would hit the poorest hardest. I can afford to live downtown, near my work. I take the bus everyday because it's close, fast, relaxing and cheaper than parking. However, if one can't afford to live near work and has to commute, at least they can get a smaller car and save on gas... that is, until they start taxing per mile. If states are so strapped for highways money they would be better off either raising the gas taxes already in place, or spending the money they already collect better, IMHO.
You're right. A new bureaucracy is the key to this idea. They'd have to certify the GPS units, probably on a yearly basis, for a fee. Of course, the GPS would also have to be installed by a government approved installer. And no doubt, there would be a yearly use tax, as well.
And, of course, this system could never work if individual states adopted it. What happens if you're from out of state, and your state doesn't use the system?
No, we couldn't have that, so a federal program would have to be implemented, as well. More fees, more inspections.
It's a bureaucrat's nirvana.
I am sick of states balancing their budgets on the backs of taxpayers! Every time we turn around there is another news story about states looking for ways to gain more money--why?
We taxpayers need to fight back! In Michigan--the governor is now wanting to tax people who want to go to Mackinac Island--she needs more money to shut the school leaders up, and to get re-elected. Now they want to keep track of every mile you drive! What is wrong? We are overtaxed, under represented and ruled by a large dictator--the government.
Its also easy as heck to roll back an odometer and not get caught. Just ask any used-car salesman.
but...! but...!
Until oil drilling in ANWAR is allowed and nuclear power plants are allowed to be built as needed, I thought that vehicle fuel efficiency was the be-all and end-all of environmental discussion.
Turns out to be "tax revenues" instead?
"Smooth sailing" for the open-ended collection of taxes? Imagine that.
If a few of these state employees disappear from the state's employment rolls, perhaps that will send the clearest and loudest message of all...
I figured out how much I pay in all taxes, fed income tax, state income tax, state sales tax, car registration tax, property tax, social security tax, medicare tax, phone line taxes, road taxes (speeding), crapital gains, and it came to 44% of my income and that doesn't include the taxes that are hidden in the things that I buy. 44% is rediculous for anyone, especially someone only making $35k/year.
Don't know if armed rebellion is in order yet, but we're not far from it. It would be best to do this via the political process. What we need to do is recall 90% of the politicians, both Democrats AND MOST Republicans. The human debris that we have as politicians who made the problems will not fix them.
We need to put people in there who will respect the constitution. Sosh security, Mediscare, Medicaid, school lunches, school brunches, farm subsidies, welfare, all of this B.S. is unconstitutional.
If the constitution doesn't specifically outline a certain resposibility, it SHOULD NOT do it. About the only thing the feds should be doing is national defense, the post office, and foreign policy. And I'm not so sure the post office should be a responsiblity of the govt. anymore.
Has anyone asked Big Oil how much it will cost to retool all the pumps to receive the signals, calculate the tax, and report it to the state? And what about the independent gasoline retailers, like the Stop 'N Go's or supermarkets? Who will maintain their sophisticated pumps?
-PJ
People just don't get it.
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Not to far off?
Ordering a pizza
http://www.aclu.org/pizza/images/screen.swf
The only thing is the use of cash will be illegal
Most pumps are already computer controlled. It would be a small matter to add this on.
A board to read the car. That’s cheap. And a software update in the pump.
This idea was invented by an al-Qaeda mole, upset that the existing tax system rewards people for cutting the revenue to their state sponsors.
But, is Big Oil willing to take on this effort? or the cost? Will the cost of retrofitting every pump be passed onto the consumer in higher gasoline prices? When will the government mandate that this be implemented? What other efforts would Big Oil have to defer to meet the government mandate?
Is anybody talking to them at all?
-PJ
We are way overdue for one hell of a backlash.
I concur.
Hear, hear!
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