Mileage Based Driving Tax

[jhmover]

Am I dense or not getting something here? What is taxing what you drive by the mile going to accomplish other than creating more bureaucratic bullshit? I'd say you already pay by the mile as it is, because you use so much gas per mile. If you have a car that gets good gas mileage you pay less, if you have a gas hog you pay more, which should make the tree-huggers happy as it gives people an incentive to drive more economical cars.

Per the link below it seems the bandwagon is starting to tax by the mile. The only thing I can think of is they're all scared that when everyone gets high mileage or electric cars their revenue will go down. Again, this removes an incentive to drive a high mileage or electric car.

So WTF? I really don't get it.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...vehicle-mileage-tax,0,4225850.story?track=rss

 

[p m]

I'd love to see them tracking my mileage.

 

[Leslie]

Heck, how would tracking of a Series work? Are they going to install it in people's existing vehicles, or just force companies to install such in new vehicles? (could hack the OnStar stuff)

I just don't think it'd work, to retrofit to existing vehicles.

 

[noee]

Desperate acts by desperate people. The pols are freaking out at every level because the tax revenues are cliff diving. Whether or not some of these pathetically stupid ideas ever pass or not, you are going to see some crazy shit being proposed.

This is a typical reaction: Raise taxes. It works for about 10 minutes and then tax revenues fall even further. These guys will be in wholesale panic-mode in a few months.

 

[Blue]

It's also the perfect way to get a tracking device in everybody's car. Between the car & cell phone GPS we'll all be accountable around the clock. Nice & tidy, don't you see?

And noee is right about this being an effort to raise taxes in light of falling tax revenue....it will work temporarily and as soon as the people start seeing their own by-mileage tax bill they will take steps to decrease their miles driven, i.e. reduce their own tax bill, i.e. back to reducing the state's tax revenue. Back to square one...time to think up another new way to tax the citizens. Backwards and recursively-stupid liberal tax policy.

 

[jim-00-4.6]

The easy way to make a mileage-based tax is to check the odometer reading annually when the vehicle is registered.
But, if the point is to pay for "maintaining roads", how will they deduct the miles I drive in the national forests?

The prius drivers will (and should) hate this.

GPS installed in my car? I don't think so.
I've said it before, I'll mail that thing around the world just to fuck up their data.
"Well, Mr. Jim-00-4.6, our infallible system shows you drove 500,000 miles last year."
"Yes. Yes I did. You realize that means I drove just over 1300 miles EVERY day, and at 60 mph that's 22 hours per day driving."
"Well.. and I see you drove across the Atlantic Ocean 16 times in July."
"Yes. Yes I did. Did you also see I drove from Colorado to Australian 9 times in September?"
"Uh-huh. I see you apparently spent a month in England, then drove to Japan at an average speed of something in excess of 350 mph."
"Yes. Yes I did. You know the speed limits are different in Europe; plus, they're in kilometers, so..."

 

[Blue]

GPS installed in my car? I don't think so.
I've said it before, I'll mail that thing around the world just to fuck up their data.
"Well, Mr. Jim-00-4.6, our infallible system shows you drove 500,000 miles last year."
"Yes. Yes I did. You realize that means I drove just over 1300 miles EVERY day, and at 60 mph that's 22 hours per day driving."
"Well.. and I see you drove across the Atlantic Ocean 16 times in July."
"Yes. Yes I did. Did you also see I drove from Colorado to Australian 9 times in September?"
"Uh-huh. I see you apparently spent a month in England, then drove to Japan at an average speed of something in excess of 350 mph."
"Yes. Yes I did. You know the speed limits are different in Europe; plus, they're in kilometers, so..."

you get a gold star for this!

 

[jhmover]

you get a gold star for this!

X2!!!!! Good one!

 

[Blue]

Of course, the reality would be that you would be thrown in jail for tampering with government property.

 

[jim-00-4.6]

Yeah, I know.
That's why the ACTUAL conversation would go like this:
"Mr. Blue, I see you drove 500,000 miles last year..."
and, a few hundred miles north, in Colorado:
"Mr. Jim-00-4.6, I see you spent the entire year in Arizona..."

 

[Lake_Bueller]

Are they going to do this for motorcycles also? I only put about 6k miles per year on my truck. Another 6k is on my motorcycles.

 

[jahmann]

Blue, I think you are missing the point. In your first post above you say the new tax by mile policy will fail because people will just drive less. In reality that is exactly what use taxes like this are supposed to achieve; the less you drive the less required maintenance to the road. By the way this recursively-stupid liberal tax policy along with congestion pricing is supported by many conservatives who don't want the federal government subsidizing state road dollars.

 

[jahmann]

Bueller, my guess is your mileage tax would be different based on the weight/class of your vehicle. So your tax per mile would be less for your motorcycle because it causes less congestion and road damage. To a certain extent this already exists for big rigs who have to use weigh stations.

 

[SCSL]

Everybody talks a lot of shit, but if that's what our overlords want to do, they'll do it. And nobody is going to do a damn thing about it.

Government now has the monopoly on force and a militarized police force trained to use it, as we have seen in New Orleans and Iowa, without conscience on their fellow Americans. Oh- I'm sorry- we're now called "civilians" by law enforcement depts, as opposed to members of those departments, who are agents of the state.

 

[jahmann]

SCSL, sounds like its time for you to gather your guns, ladies, and surplus and head for the mountains. Or you could get involved and affect the changes you want or don't want to see.

 

[az_max]

ok, two problems:
1)More fuel efficent cars means less taxes per mile driven, so infrastructure doesn't get fixed like it should.
2) Per mile gas tax goes into effect. More people stop driving causing the taxes received to decline, so infrastructure doesn't get fixed like it should.

Taxes go up to compensate for more efficent cars and less miles drive. Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

 

[jahmann]

az_max, we would hope that the Feds would predict your #2 problem and subsidize the program for the first couple years after taxes dropped below replacement costs. After that the less people drive the less we will need to pay for maintenance. Its an equilibrium thing. If a politician is serious about invoking a per mile tax I'm sure they would do due diligence on how much the tax would have to be to off set the impact of each vehicle.

 

[flyfisher11]

SCSL, sounds like its time for you to gather your guns, ladies, and surplus and head for the mountains. Or you could get involved and affect the changes you want or don't want to see.

You obviously don't know SCSL

 

[az_max]

Mileage tax idea shot down by president

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.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/02/20/20090220mileage-tax0220-ON.html

 

[Blue]

Blue, I think you are missing the point. In your first post above you say the new tax by mile policy will fail because people will just drive less. In reality that is exactly what use taxes like this are supposed to achieve; the less you drive the less required maintenance to the road. By the way this recursively-stupid liberal tax policy along with congestion pricing is supported by many conservatives who don't want the federal government subsidizing state road dollars.

You really think that a by-mileage tax is supposed to achieve less required road maintenance? What's the weather like in your world? Warming, I suppose....