The new administration is apparently considering dropping the gas tax and replacing it with a charge of $.0025 per mile driven. To do that, you would have a government controlled GPS unit placed in your car.
I am sure Comrade Obama simply wants to make sure nobody gets lost as a reason for the GPS. Oh, wait, maybe its so he will know when he needs to put gas in your car for you.
A tentative plan in Massachusetts to use GPS chips in vehicles to charge motorists by the mile has drawn complaints from drivers who say it’s an Orwellian intrusion by government into the lives of citizens. Other motorists say it eliminates an incentive to drive more fuel-efficient cars since gas guzzlers will be taxed at the same rate as fuel sippers.
Another FYI - Heir Obama doesn’t directly control what the Massachusetts government does.
True, but we are talking about the federal gas tax. The program is being explored by the feds. Just because they only site one state doesn’t mean anything.
Think about the uproar we heard from the left had about the government running phone calls through computers to search out key words. Now its the very same side of the aisle that is thinking about the government installing a GPS unit on your car so they can track your movements. Anybody find that odd.
Whats next, implanted chips into our brains so they can also track our thoughts?
why do they need a GPS? … couldn’t this be accomplished with Odometer readings?
When would they read your odometer? Once a month? (too costly) Once a year? (do you want to pay a whole year’s worth of tax in one bill?) Once every 2-3 years when your car is being inspected? (see once-a-year) The only way to do this would be to install GPS on each car and use the data to auto-bill you monthly. I can’t see this being anywhere near inexpensive to do. The start up costs alone are prohibitive. Also heard that people are driving a lot less nowadays anyway, so it won’t help the Fed’s coffers.
The reason they are going to mileage is because people modified behavior to avoid high gas prices. Once they go to mileage, people will modify to avoid those charges. The revenue will not increase. Thus, they will be compelled to tax both mileage and gas. They need to stop thinking about increasing taxes and focus on ways to increase revenue. The economy and taxes are not zero sum games.
That is all fine and dandy when you live in a state the size of Mass. Come out west where a short drive in Idaho is 50 miles and a little farther is 150. Don’t think that one will fly.
Also would they eliminate the federal gas tax at the pump or would this be in addition to it.
I can see some 9yr old kid figuring out a way to reprogram the GPS unit in your car to report 2 miles or something like that instead of 10.
I posted something similar in last in tri’s thread, but who, other than the “users” of the roadways, should pay for their use. This is a perfect, conservative, solution. Unless, of course you subscribe to the thought that the nation’s infrastructure is a right and should be paid for by some other system.
In the past, gas was a pretty good proxy for “damage” to a road. Both big vehicles and high HP vehicles would damage the road more, but also burn more gas. As the technology evolves, such that gas usage is not a good proxy for damage to the roads, shouldn’t the system for paying for said damage evolve as well? Should people who buy all electric cars escape their responsibility in paying for their use of the roads? Should I as a non electric vehicle owner subsidize their “consumption” habits?
Unless you live on a subsistence farm, we all use the roads one way or another. The whole country benefits from a sound interstate transportation system. There are also national security issues associated with sound evacuation routes, etc. There are certain things for which a regulated monopoly is the only efficient method of procurement. Roads, airports, used to be telephones, railroads, etc.
So what would be your ideal way to pay for said infrastructure? Whether or not everyone uses it, there are realistic and effective ways to have people “pay for their use”. This is done currently with mail, roads, and airports to some degree. Not so much for defense.
I am very surprised that conservatives are against this, seriously (no pink font).
I think people are concerned most about the federal and state government intruding into our lives with mandatory GPS devices in our cars. I am not opposed to a user tax for highway funds. My concern is that the government hardly ever gives up a revenue source. There is no way they will do away with the gas tax in favor of a mileage tax. It may go away in the short run but it will be back. Moreover, if the tax is removed, I predict prices will shoot right back to where they are now because it is what the market will bear. Thus, we will end up with no savings on gas and increased expense for the mileage tax. I would rather see the government cut waste and other programs rather than always resorting to price increases.
Well that is because even they are not stupid enough to think this can be done effectively using your car’s odometer. That mileage reading is soooo easily tampered with it isn’t ever worth considering.
It only sounds good as opposed to raising taxes on fuel. But simply raising taxes on fuel, creates no additional load to the system already in place, already governed, already controlled.
This crazy idea would required of course a bigger government which would require more taxes to support.
The idea is a sound good item that actually hurts the entire process and helps only politicians.
“I can see some 9yr old kid figuring out a way to reprogram the GPS unit in your car to report 2 miles or something like that instead of 10.”
It would be nice to find some way to have a better “user pays” system that doesn’t call on big brother. But people will scam the system any way they can. Right now, farmers and others who use diesel or gasoline for non-road uses (farm equipment, on-site maintenance equipment and the like) can get their fuel tax free. But these people often fill their own personal vehicles up with that fuel, thereby avoiding the taxes and forcing you and me to pay for their roads. There are cheats everywhere.
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama will not adopt a policy to tax motorists based on how many miles they drive instead of how much gasoline they buy, his chief spokesman said Friday. Press secretary Robert Gibbs commented after Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told The Associated Press that he wants to consider the idea, which has been proposed in some states but has angered many drivers.
“It is not and will not be the policy of the Obama administration,” Gibbs told reporters, when asked for the president’s thoughts about the policy and LaHood’s remarks.
Tax free (off road) fuel is typically diesel. It is dyed red. Once your pour it into your vehicle it leaves a trace behind. If the police stop you the will “stick” your tank. If it comes back red, you pretty get out a really big checkbook.
Tax free (off road) fuel is typically diesel. It is dyed red. Once your pour it into your vehicle it leaves a trace behind. If the police stop you the will “stick” your tank. If it comes back red, you pretty get out a really big checkbook.
Yah, right. Ever hear of probable cause? Has anyone here ever had their tank “sticked” by a cop at a traffic stop?