Mn/DOT to test driver's 'mileage tax'

GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. -- The Minnesota Department of Transportation is looking for 500 people to test technology that could someday be used to collect a mileage-based user fee. Mn/DOT anticipates a fee on road usage might someday be necessary as more fuel efficient and hybrid cars are on the road, decreasing revenue from the gas tax.

"This research will provide important feedback from motorists about the effectiveness of using technology in a car or truck to gather mileage information," said Cory Johnson, project manager. "We are researching alternative financing methods today that could be used 10 or 20 years from now when the number of fuel efficient and hybrid cars increase and no longer produce enough revenue from a gas tax to build and repair roads."

Recruiting for the Minnesota Road Fee Test will begin in May, with research starting in July. Volunteers must be from Hennepin or Wright County. Drivers will be given smart phones with a GPS application that has been programmed to allow them to submit information. Volunteers will get a small stipend for expenses associated with the test. The research is scheduled to end by December 2012.

The state of Oregon completed a similar study in November 2007. Iowa, Nevada and Texas are currently researching mileage-based user fees.

Mn/DOT says that if a mileage-based user fee were implemented, motorists would pay a fee based on how many miles they driver, rather than how much gas a vehicle uses, which is how Minnesota's gas tax is currently designed....

The ONLY reason for GPS is to track where you are going, not how many miles you drove.

It is not about mileage, it is about control.

imagine getting a speeding ticket in the mail because the GPS unit ratted you out.

Imagine your car showing up in a parking lot where anti-government demonstrators park and having it tracked for years afterward.

Imagine having ATF agents showing up at your house when guns are banned because you parked in a gun show parking lot.

Imagine what they could do if the government knew where you were at any given moment of any day in the future?

It's not about taxes, it about control and gathering information about you.

The gas tax is very interesting. We like to bitch about paying 40 or 50 cents a gallon and still having to drive on crowded highways. But the bottom line is that 40 or 50 cents per gallon is about 2 cents per mile. That is DAMN CHEAP for all the highways we have.

Next you look at public toll roads. Their cost ranges from about 5 cents per mile to 15 (maybe 20 in some cases). ANY toll road that charges over 10 cents per mile is SWIMMING in money (assuming that they have a captive audience that needs the road) and winds up dishing out half of their revenue to other ‘worthy’ causes (like the trains here in Houston). It simply becomes a ‘revenue engine’ as transportation planners derisively call it.

Then private toll roads. There still aren’t too many, but the ones out there are around 20 to 30 cents a mile. They can charge that much because they (generally) have a captive audience and have a protected MONOPOLY, without ANY political accountability (so they charge as much as they can to maximize revenue...without regard to their cost). The gas tax in Europe, which gives them $8.00 to $9.00 gas prices comes out to around 25 cents per mile - 90% of that tax is used for higher priority causes, such as health care. Here in Texas, our governor wanted to essentially hand over our highways to private ownership...and A LOT of people on this site were just gung-ho for the idea (or they were FReeping out of the governor’s office...since they did seem to go away once the governor, supposedly, dropped the plan). No matter what, this crap has to be STOPPED.

Finally, you have toll roads that use ‘Congestion Pricing’, which can go as high as one dollar per mile, at peak times (State Highway 91 in California). They charge that much because people are willing to spend $10 to drive 10 miles in 10 minutes, rather than an hour.

So when people here bitch about the gas tax going up a dime about half a cent per mile (while still being used on highways) because of efficient cars or construction costs, I’m sorry, but I turn into a liberal and say, LET’S DO IT. Because the alternatives to that level of increase are MUCH, MUCH, WORSE. And something WILL BE done, you cannot have highways without paying for them. The only question is whether the money paid by drivers will be used for highways, or used, primarily, for lots of other pet projects.

And you start seeing what happens now. As we price driving by the mile, does anyone here really think that it will stop at 2.0 or 2.5 cents per mile...when people elsewhere ARE WILLING to pay 30 cents per mile? Nope - once the system is in place, look for tomorrow’s drivers to be CASH COWS for lots of government programs...and if they get around to it, they may even spend some money on roads.

So sorry Ray LaHood, Mitch Daniels, and Rick Perry, you will NEVER get me on board (for any of the above schemes, beyond the gas tax).

I agree...plus let us not forget that this idea will be sold as creating 500 jobs for the state! WOOWEE... more government jobs that do not create a value added service, or need item.

What I find seriously funny about all of this, is for the amount of money that could possibly be lost due to a hybrid (which is not really all that practical in our frozen tundra) could never be made up in this so called fee.

There is no way it is a cost effective benefit to anyone, including the state government. In my humble opinion.

But then again, our dear Governor is not really concerned apparently in being fiscally responsible is he? I mean to the real people of the state who are trying to make their way in this state.

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