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.
Lousy idea, IMO.
every gallon is already taxed and taxed and taxed ad nauseum
Time to REVOLT!
Call me stupid, but I thought a speedometer already did this.
Do we have a link?
"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. "
First these idiots bitch when you use gas, and then bitch when you don't pay the taxes since you are not using gas.
Al Qaeida is not our worst problem...the Al Gores of America are.
An odometer, even ;D
Sorry, no link. Apologies for the dupe post.
Stop the illegals from entering our country for a period of 1 week a year. There's your savings required to maintain roads and highways in America.
Yes, but the government can't make you bring it in to read it.
Yes, but a mere odometer would imply voluntary reporting > compliance and obviate the need for a new revenue-collection beaurocracy. Can't have that.
The problem in California is not that there is enough gasoline taxes taken in. The problem in California is that gasoline taxes are rolled into the General Fund instead of a specific fund to be only used for road repairs. Because the gasoline taxes go into the General Fund, the politicians start using the money in the General Fund for their stupid socialist welfare projects.
This is just un-friggin-believable.
In Washington state, our car tabs used to be based on the value of our cars. I drove a BMW, but didn't need to drive much (I put 30k on it in six years) - I was paying $700-$800 a year to license my car. A liberal friend of ours who drives and economy car, and drives a LOT more than I do, sent me email opposing the initiative that lowered our car tabs. In his mind, I should have paid much more than him - even though I used the roads less - because I had a nice car.
I don't like this at all, and I can't imagine the rank-and-file hybrid-driving lefties are going to stand for this either. It doesn't hurt rich people enough.
All done by incrementalism by reasonable moderate citizens to their own children.
Inspection Sticker Time.
Inspection Sticker Time.
Imagine what would happen if the War On Smoking succeeded. Some states would have to declare bankruptcy!
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