Oops. A squirrel chewed the GPS's power wire again.
Posted on 12/28/2009 12:04:12 PM PST by Responsibility2nd
AUSTIN — If you don't like gasoline taxes, here's an alternative: a tax on the number of miles you drive in a year.
The Texas Transportation Commission has directed a fresh study of the idea, and it's not alone. There are pilot projects in other states and nationally to gauge how such a tax would work.
Texas transportation officials suggest it's meant to help give lawmakers information on funding options before their next regular session in 2011, when they confront a funding squeeze that's expected to drain the highway fund of money for new construction contracts by 2012.
“We need to think differently about how we fund transportation,” Texas Transportation Commission Chairwoman Deirdre Delisi said at a Texas Taxpayers and Research Association forum in November.
Delisi said the vehicle-miles-traveled tax idea is “controversial” but should be discussed because revenue from the state's main source of transportation funding, the motor fuels tax, is declining. The gasoline tax hasn't been raised since 1991.
The commission asked the Texas Transportation Institute, which is part of the Texas A&M University System, to take the lead on the study. Commissioner Fred Underwood has emphasized that the commission's goal is to give lawmakers alternatives.
“Let's just make sure that we give them options, not conclusions,” he said.
Texas Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee Chairman John Carona, R-Dallas, has said a gasoline tax increase is what makes sense to him, though that has proven politically difficult so far. He has suggested a vehicle-miles-traveled tax is “far into the future and way ahead of its time.”
Carona recently released a statement, however, that the vehicle-miles-traveled tax option is “not coming to a gas station near you anytime soon, but it also can't be dismissed out of hand.”
“If study can lead us to better funding mechanisms than we are currently using, and we can address the concerns, then we have an obligation to keep at it,” the statement said.
Just how a vehicle-miles-traveled tax would be assessed is part of the study. It could be as simple as drivers writing a check when they have their vehicles inspected to in-car technology that more precisely tracks mileage, perhaps tacking on a charge when drivers fuel up by communicating with the pump. This could be through global positioning technology or other technology.
The latter system would allow for such things as different charges for rural versus urban driving, and for deductions when people travel out of state, noted Ginger Goodin, a Texas Transportation Institute research engineer who is leading the study. She said, however, that privacy concerns quickly arise when such a system is discussed.
“I think anywhere this has been discussed, that (privacy) is probably the issue that emerges among the top issues,” she said. “That will have to be addressed.”
The study will explore alternatives with technology experts, representatives of other states' transportation agencies and with the public through focus groups. The work will be forwarded to a yet-unnamed exploratory committee of business leaders or similar people to examine the policy implications.
One possibility is a Texas pilot project, Goodin said, adding, “We're just in the process of exploring whether it makes sense for Texas.”
Does anyone think for a moment that this won't mean more taxes for all drivers - regardless of how much or how little you drive?
Anyone?
Texas Ping.
Is’nt there already a gasoline tax for this purpose?
Hey Perry, if you support any tax increases you can kiss your ass goodbye.
No way
isn’t the gasoline tax, in effect, a mile driven tax????
not advocating raising it....but.... if we “have” to have more.....why not increase it instead of adding a new bureaucracy?????????????.....
This is despicable, just another way for the envirowhackies to get people out of their cars and the authorities to watch people. I can see it now - all the different goverment agencies wanting to know why someone like you - YES YOU!!! are driving so much. The state of California trotted this idea out a few years ago and the outcry was so large Arnie disavowed the official who mentioned it real fast. Unbelievable that the Texas I grew up in would ever discuss this. Scream loud fellow Texans and do it quick, it worked to kill it out here on the west coast, at least for now.
A mind is a terrible thing to waste! Stop voting for DemocRATS! THINK about what you are doing before you vote.
Annual tags are still pretty cheap in Texas...so why not just increase that a bit? Gasoline Tax hasn’t gone up for a long time - so why not that? Folks who drive the most pay the most gas tax. Isn’t that enough?
Miles traveled tax...It’s a really stupid idea.
I fill up my car average 2x a month... don’t think they’ll be getting much from me.
Sounds just like something KBH would like so she can get more of her “big tent” dems to vote for her.
Also being considered is a tax on your feet, a carbon tax for everytime you exhale. But don’t worry, your Botox injections will not be taxed.
According to TFA, they do say that Texas already has a gas tax. The issue, for some statist state legislators, is that since the Texas gas tax hasn’t been raised in years, they aren’t getting the amount of revenue they feel the state is due, and therefore want to impose this as well. Note the lack of talk about *replacing* the gas tax.
Also, and unmentioned in the story, would be the ability to impose different rates depending on the vehicle, to “socially engineer” auto purchases. This part would have to be “soft-shoed” in Texas because of the preponderance of people who actually use trucks as part of their daily living. They do obliquely refer to the idea of different rates for different vehicles by talking about different rates for different types of driving (rural, urban, etc), but this is in the context of them actively tracking your vehicle (another statist idea that they simply drop in passing) and then “allowing” you a lower rate in rural areas.
Idiot TXDOT officials in Texas want to build toll roads. Shoot, they even want to turn existing roads into toll roads.
They are ignoring the will of the people who DO NOT WANT toll roads.
They’re idiots.
I’m like many Texans who agree that gasoline taxes - which as you say have NOT gone up - could in fact be increased to pay for our badly need highways.
I’d vote for Kinky - or any other moron - if need be, if only they made a campain promise to abolish TXDOT.
Let me tell you how it will be;
There’s one for you, nineteen for me.
‘Cause I’m the taxman,
Yeah, I’m the taxman.
Should five per cent appear too small,
Be thankful I don’t take it all.
‘Cause I’m the taxman,
Yeah, I’m the taxman.
(if you drive a car, car;) - I’ll tax the street;
(if you try to sit, sit;) - I’ll tax your seat;
(if you get too cold, cold;) - I’ll tax the heat;
(if you take a walk, walk;) - I’ll tax your feet.
Taxman!
‘Cause I’m the taxman,
Yeah, I’m the taxman.
Don’t ask me what I want it for, (ah-ah, mister Wilson)
If you don’t want to pay some more. (ah-ah, mister heath)
‘Cause I’m the taxman,
Yeah, I’m the taxman.
Now my advice for those who die, (taxman)
Declare the pennies on your eyes. (taxman)
‘Cause I’m the taxman,
Yeah, I’m the taxman.
And you’re working for no one but me.
Taxman!
A per-gallon fuel tax is already a near-perfect means of fairly distributing tax on the basis of wear-and-tear on roads. The ONLY reason for moving to some other system is a desire for Big-Brother-style monitoring and control.
Oops. A squirrel chewed the GPS's power wire again.
When the B*ASTARDS in Austin (and D.C.) “float” these ideas around, they are just throwing it at the wall and seeing what sticks. Unless we scream very, very loudly the INSTANT we hear crazy talk from these critters, we will get more and more and more taxes on everything we do.
I have a V12 Jag. It burns thru more gallons than it covers miles...This might work for me.
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