States Mull Taxing Drivers By Mile

[ethics]

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."


Oregan is already <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/14/eveningnews/main674120.shtml">testing this tax by the mile system</a>.

Hey, way to put incentives on the hybrids!!!

Know what? If I ever require that device to be put on my car this is when I seriously get involved with car's computers. I see a HUGE underground business in altering the miles you put on. This will also motivate people to #(*@# with their odometer and will affect a lot more than taxes but how cars are bought and sold, etc...

GAH! Horrible idea!

[Biker]

I just traded the truck on a more fuel effecient vehicle. :cry:

Considering they're talking two technologies here (GPS and wireless communication between the vehicle and gas pump), they better start coming up with a way to make the "box" tamper proof. Of course, all you need to do is make a small "jammer" to prevent the signals from coming in or out. :cool:

[ethics]

Not only that but anyone with some hacking skills can mod their ride fairly easy these days with the right tools. I am almost positive you can always by-pass any system and if this is going to be a government controlled...

God, why am I going against the Feds recently?

[tke711]

In a sense, I understand where they are going with this. Those who use the roads the most are now paying the most. Kind of like tolls without the hassle of having to slow down and throw coins in the machine.

However, like you said, it would only be a matter of time before someone hacks it. In addition, how would you collect from those that travel out of State? For example, say Wisconsin instituted this but Illinois didn't. Since I'm down that way all the time, I could just fill up in Illinois every chance I get and Wisconsin would be out the tax money.

[ethics]

They would probably calculate whenever and wherever you fueld up?

[tke711]

True, but how would they knows that those miles were used on their roads? So, if go a road trip across 3 states, Wisconsin gets all that mileage revenue?

Man, this is a such a bad idea on many fronts.

[Biker]

Keep in mind, they're using GPS as well. Very easy to see exactly where your vehicle is. Here's one that's even worse.......

You travel through 3 states, 2 of which have higher per mile used taxes than your home state. You fill up at the pump and you're dinged for the taxes in all three states.

[tke711]

And the fact that the state could then track every where you go. I'm really not liking this idea much.

[Lovehound]

I can't imagine a more equitable and easy to manage system than simply taxing fuel. The more you drive the more you pay. The bigger your gas hog the more you pay. The tax gets applied where you are doing your driving so if you travel cross country the tax gets spread out amongst the states you drove through.

Isn't this just another example of the government fscking up something that wasn't broke?

[ethics]

Gadget, I would agree with this tax system IF and ONLY IF they don't slap on the tax on the gas and get rid of the tolls.

[Lovehound]

Well nevertheless all this hokus pokus with GPS tracking and electronics and computers is just bullshit compared to more conventional ways of paying for road construction and repair, those being fuel taxes and tolls. There's no need to let the government get in the position of knowing where we went and when we went there. The privacy aspects of the tracking system are enough to raise constitutional questions IMHO.

[ethics]

I thought, EZ-pass already tracked us. ;)

[Stiofán]

Wake up thong boy, old news. (http://www.globalaffairs.org/forum/showthread.php?t=29715)

:lol:

[Steve]

I don't know where all this talk of GPS units is coming from; one researcher hooked up one car to see how it would work. That's a far cry from assuming the government is going to require GPS on all vehicles.

So, the concern seems to be that hybrids will use less gas. Good. But they'll use an equivalent amount of energy in some form or another to go the same distance. If that energy takes the form of some sort of compressed gas, it'll be quite simple and easy for the government to apply highway taxes to it, using common, existing technology.

If that energy takes the form of electricity then a simple meter, such as is found on your house or apartment, can be used to determine usage and, therefore, applicable taxes.

The various governments have a valid concern: whether the vehicles are conventional or alternative fuels, the roads must still be maintained. The only question is how to tax the alternative energy sources used by vehicles. All this discussion of GPS units and direct-tax-by-the-mile is a bunch of hooey.

[ethics]

Perhaps a better title for your thread would have alerted me. :P

[MNeedham73]

Well, I doubt that anything like this will take place in Illinois anytime soon, since they just doubled toll costs to anyone that doesn't have an I-Pass transmitter. And consequently, totally #*$%&ed up traffic on secondary routes, due to trucks trying to avoid the tollways.

Although, I won't be surprised if the morons down in Springfield try to bring up the subject.

[BigDeputyDog]

Aother thing to consider: The GPS will not only keep track of where you are, where you have been, and what route you took to get there, it can also be used to determine the speed you were going!! Think about it... The information can now be used to increase revenue by issuing tickets based on the data from the GPS!!

Another fine way to eliminate the need for police officers... :eek:

BDD...

[Stiofán]

Something else to remember. In 2009 over 50% of all new cell phones sold will have RF chips in them. Walk by a billboard, and you'll get an ad from the same company showing up on your phone screen. While cars and people won't necessarily be tracked everywhere, the ability to do so will exist, and it's only a matter of time people.

[Lovehound]

100 percent of cellphones have RF chips now. They are RF devices and won't work without RF chips. Perhaps you meant something else...