Taxing Drivers By The Mile

http://tinyurl.com/6kuzj
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 fellow researcher David Porter 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 bottle neck 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.

You know what they need to do?

Regulate SUV's as commercial vehicles.

A lot of our problems would be solved then.

"Ed Stasiak" > wrote in message oups.com...
> http://tinyurl.com/6kuzj

> 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.

Wow, so now fuel efficiency is a bad thing? Leave it to
government to find a way of accomplishing that.

Random Waftings Of Bunker Blasts wrote:
> You know what they need to do?
>
> Regulate SUV's as commercial vehicles.
>
> A lot of our problems would be solved then.

Oh I definately agree! Tax SUV owners, who currently register it as a
"truck" when its clearly not. I got another proposal: Tax by the EPA's
MPG estimates. People who get below 20 MPG on the highway or 10 MPG in
the city should pay more, and so forth.

"Ed Stasiak" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> http://tinyurl.com/6kuzj
> 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 fellow researcher David Porter 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 bottle neck 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.
>

So fuel efficiency is now a BAD THING? I guess these morons haven't heard
about global warming and Peak Oil, have they? This has got to be one of the
worst ideas I've ever heard of. Forget the privacy issues for a moment
(impossible, but try). This is going to lead to a tremendous increase in
the number of unemployed, under-employed and HOMELESS people in this
country. Many people are now commuting more than an hour (each way) from
where they live to where they work. The reason is simple . . . they can't
afford to live where they work, and they can't afford to WORK where they
live. A long commute allows many people in this country to ummmmm, LIVE.
Now add the mileage tax and suddenly lots of well-employed people are forced
to quit their good jobs to work close to home. Only problem is, they can't
earn enough money working at wally world to pay the rent and/or mortgage.
Ooooops, there goes the house. Awwww, a cardboard box is much more
comfortable anyway. -Dave

Sherman Cahal wrote:
> Random Waftings Of Bunker Blasts wrote:
> > You know what they need to do?
> >
> > Regulate SUV's as commercial vehicles.
> >
> > A lot of our problems would be solved then.
>
> Oh I definately agree! Tax SUV owners, who currently register it as a
> "truck" when its clearly not. I got another proposal: Tax by the
EPA's
> MPG estimates. People who get below 20 MPG on the highway or 10 MPG
in
> the city should pay more, and so forth.

Just raise the gas tax. It's the fairest method, still encourages
conservation (perhaps more so than at present) and doesn't introduce
any more bureaucracy into our already over-bureaucratized government.
Of course, it's a) politically unpopular and b) makes sense, so that
idea is at a disadvantage to other, more complicated and wasteful
solutions.

nate

In article . com>,
Sherman Cahal > wrote:
>Oh I definately agree! Tax SUV owners, who currently register it as a
>"truck" when its clearly not. I got another proposal: Tax by the EPA's
>MPG estimates. People who get below 20 MPG on the highway or 10 MPG in
>the city should pay more, and so forth.

Why not just raise the gas tax? It would penalize drivers who either
a) drive a lot of miles; or b) get poor mileage.

I'm not enthusiastic about paying more to the government, but if they're
determined to squeeze more out of us, wouldn't it be a lot simpler to
raise the gas tax than install gadgets in every car and every gas pump
(and create a whole new infrastructure and bureaucracy to support them)?

I see a *lot* of questions about a system like what's being discussed, and
I just don't see the advantages to be gained (other than the politicians
being able to say "we didn't raise the tax, we just added a fee" -- bull!).

Gary

What idiots. They could try raising the gas tax instead. Not
politically the easiest thing to do, but then neither is strapping on a Big
Brother to every single car in the state.

As others said, increase fuel tax.

a) Doesn't involvement a bunch of privacy invading gizmos, thus much cheaper
to implement.
b) Encourages cars with improved fuel economy because the increase won't
hurt as much as those driving gas guzzlers. Look in Europe for example. Fuel
taxes are through the roof so everyone drives more fuel efficient cars.


"Ed Stasiak" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> http://tinyurl.com/6kuzj

> 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.


The tax-by-mile advocates must also be privacy invading advocates if they
actually believe that.

"Ed Stasiak" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> http://tinyurl.com/6kuzj
> States Mull Taxing Drivers By Mile
> CORVALLIS, Ore., Feb. 14, 2005
>
(snip)
Well, if they are stupid enough to try to implement this totally
unenforcable plan, I see a lot of cheap SOBs like me either stocking up on
old grandfathered clunkers, or buying a lot of gas in cans, or simply
finding and disabling the transponder. It would cost a fortune to make the
things anywhere near unhackable. The only way to do it with off-the-shelf
tech would basically be an e-pass box attached to the car computer,
answering whenever it was polled. If you aren't a techie and want a new car,
just have one car (maybe shared by neighbors) that never goes further than
to corner gas station, and siphon the gas out of it into the road car.

I ain't gonna lose any sleep over it.

aem sends...