Posted on 02/15/2005 10:18:28 AM PST by Attention Surplus Disorder
If you drive a car- I'll tax the street
If you try to sit- I'll tax your seat
If you get too cold I'll tax the heat
If you take a walk I'll tax your feet
Well I'm the tax man
Yea I'm the tax man
Short answer: No. The state could remove it's gas tax initially, then find some excuse to revive it later. However, the federal gas tax would still apply, as would any county and municipal gas taxes that exist.
This idea is being floated by DEMOCRATS -- you know, the party which supposedly is for the little guy. Yet this per-mile user tax would be one of the most regressive taxes ever, unfairly penalizing those poor and middle class people who have no choice but to use their car to get to work and other places. With this particular tax, it's crystal clear that wealthy people will be least affected.
The big-brother invasion of privacy issues are equally as important as the highly regressive nature of this tax.
You keep on believing that.
When it's here, and the pump can't connect to your odometer ... you don't get gas!
Then what?
I know. It's called your wallet. LOL
Not all gas is dispensed into a car.
Take the large tanks in the back of pickups used by landscaping compaies to fuel their equipment as just one example. Many of those hold more gas than many cars gas tanks.
Or just get yourself a couple 5 gallon gas containers and fill those up and then fill your tank when you leave the station.
This is California, which may have no rival for the truly Marxist tilt of our legislature. It will pass if the Dims up in Sacramento want it to pass. The question would be whether or not Schwarzzenegger would sign the bill.
However, even if he vetos it, the Dims never give up on such schemes. Eventually there will be another Dim governor and the legislature will pass the bill again.
you think that every gasoline pump is going to be modified to attach a wiring harness to your car to make sure the speedo circuit is intact? so grandma is going to have to learn to attach a OBDII connector to her car to get gas? let's get real here, the only way to enforce this is to read the odometer during the yearly inspection and levy the tax based on miles driven since last year.
They can just do what parts of NY and NJ have done. Make it ILLEGAL to pump your own gas. That way stations are forced to hire pump boys, causing an increase in the cost of gas, which increases the taxes as some tax on a percentage and not a flat fee.
Now they not only get more tax revenue from the per-mile tax, but increased taxes on gasoline. Problem solved.
Very true, but it will be charged to your vehicle. You better believe that.
Oh ... yeah ... and I'm sure everyone will all get gas jugs and transport twenty or so gallons in the back next to junior in the state mandated baby seat.
Why people would stand for a tax on their car for using gas in their lawn mower is beyond me. But so is 99% of the crap that people put up with from government.
In a word ... yes.
The plan will include a sensor installed in all new vehicles and, no doubt retro-fitted in older ones, that will allow the pump to read the mileage.
Why? That's the million dollar question!
BTW ... You are so right about the crap we put up with. ;)
have you seen this someplace in the laws being considered, or is this your own idea? suppose I drive in from out of state with my car, and it doesn't have this device, I can't buy gas?
I think Bob-the-Taxman-Taft is working on that here in Ohio. He has levied a tax on almost everything else -- oxygen will be next. I can see him salivating over this "tax-by-the-mile" scheme right now.
NJ has full serve only, NY does not.
There are three big problems with this. One, of course, is Big Brother. But I wouldn't mind if the government can prove to me that the pump only sends the odometer reading and my ID, and the only thing in any database anywhere (aside from my basic account info) is simply two numbers: beginning of year and current odometer readings. But I know that the Geheime Staatspolizei Department of Homeland Security will want pump, location, time, etc., stored too. Even if they met my criteria above, they can always sneak it in later.
The second is out of state drivers. With this in place I'd love to live in Nevada on the border with California. I'd drive in California all the time and pay no gas taxes, and I wouldn't have a chip with my Nevada-plated car.
The third is simple: government greed. Give it 10 years and I'll bet California will have a mileage tax and a gas tax.
I'll NEVER EVER vote for someone who votes for this.
Parts of NY require an attendent pump your gas for you.
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
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