interesting article...
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f ... CBJH81.DTL
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f ... CBJH81.DTL
Feds looking at gas tax per mile
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I think it's completely and utterly a move in the wrong direction!
By comparison to the current tax system, this would be a move towards a penalty on fuel efficiency.
I agree that all vehicles contribute to wear and tear, but generally heavier vehicles contribute much more, and generally heavier vehicles get worse mileage, so in taxing gas consumption rather than driven miles, a degree of proportionality with respect to wear and tear is included in the current system. Therefore, moving to a driven mile tax we would make those vehicles that contribute LESS to wear and tear, pay MORE than those that tear up the roads to a greater extent. The only way such a shift could be avoided, is to have a mileage based tax system with per mile rates proportional to Gross Vehicular Weight.
IMHO this is simply a thinly veiled move by the oil lobby and it's cronies to penalized fuel efficient vehicles, and maintain the status quo of facilitiating the continued use of fuel hogs for as long as possible. In fact, this smacks of protectionism: US car manufacturers are in danger of falling way behind in terms of offering hybrid technology, and a tax penalty on efficient vehicles is one way of temporarily leveling the field!
What a sad state of affairs!
By comparison to the current tax system, this would be a move towards a penalty on fuel efficiency.
I agree that all vehicles contribute to wear and tear, but generally heavier vehicles contribute much more, and generally heavier vehicles get worse mileage, so in taxing gas consumption rather than driven miles, a degree of proportionality with respect to wear and tear is included in the current system. Therefore, moving to a driven mile tax we would make those vehicles that contribute LESS to wear and tear, pay MORE than those that tear up the roads to a greater extent. The only way such a shift could be avoided, is to have a mileage based tax system with per mile rates proportional to Gross Vehicular Weight.
IMHO this is simply a thinly veiled move by the oil lobby and it's cronies to penalized fuel efficient vehicles, and maintain the status quo of facilitiating the continued use of fuel hogs for as long as possible. In fact, this smacks of protectionism: US car manufacturers are in danger of falling way behind in terms of offering hybrid technology, and a tax penalty on efficient vehicles is one way of temporarily leveling the field!
What a sad state of affairs!
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And did you see how they want to do it?
They want to put GPS tracking devices in every car.
They want to put GPS tracking devices in every car.
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Yet another example of Neocon "republican" hypocrisy. They're all in favor of individual freedom, small government, and local control, except when they're not.
Seems to me that The States would have to keep the per gallon tax, as well. If They aren't going to clock miles traveled out of state, then They're missing out on a whole chunk of money - especially in border areas. The Feds will just tax ALL miles traveled, but I cannot imagine They wouldn't keep a tax per gallon in order to not encourage gas guzzling. Isn't that part of the point of the gas tax? Or I thought it was when Carter was President. Encourage alternative fuel technology.
Therefore, it'll just end up as an additional tax, rather than a replacement tax, IMO. :roll:
Therefore, it'll just end up as an additional tax, rather than a replacement tax, IMO. :roll:
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One problem with any type of "user tax", whether is is based on miles or gallons, is that it assumes only those people who drive on the roads benfit from the road system. Anyone who buys any product or service benefitted from the transporation system that brought it to you. Even if you do not drive ever, it is in your interest to have (and pay for) a quality system of roads.
This infuriates me. It's blatant sell-out to the Detroit dinosaurs who don't get the same CAFE mileage. It's also a sellout by those legislators who have robbed highway funds for years, then whine they don't have enough money left for highways. Spend road funds on roads, and the phony "shortage" goes away.
I don't see how this can work...on the surface it's too easy to defeat.
Let's say they create an add-on device...
Either I won't have one installed in my current car
Or I'll pull it back out and leave it home....
Or, I'll force-feed it GPS signals so it thinks I'm at home...
Or, I'll just jam it altogether so it don't know where it is.
Or I'll steal someone else's and let them pay my taxes...
Let's say they create an add-on device...
Either I won't have one installed in my current car
Or I'll pull it back out and leave it home....
Or, I'll force-feed it GPS signals so it thinks I'm at home...
Or, I'll just jam it altogether so it don't know where it is.
Or I'll steal someone else's and let them pay my taxes...
Well, that does assume you can continue to register the car without it, and if you do have it installed, you are informed WHERE it is in the car, as supposedly we don't know where the black boxes are.
Jamming might do it, though there may be dead reconing going on.
Jamming might do it, though there may be dead reconing going on.
To do something this silly when we are talking a couple hundred thousand hybrid cars is rediculous. Heck, a new cabinet post would have to be established and fifty millio-n old junkers outfitted! Just look what happened to the envireamental inspection laws that were past and then revoked account of outcry. This sounds like some very little media fodder.
Let me suggest a possible reason this may go nowhere. It has nothing to do with the appropriateness of a per mile tax, which favors wasteful use of inefficient vehicles and promotes environmental damage, compared to a per gal tax.
The tracking system, GPS or otherwise, means that every politicians vehicle location will be available, to every zealous investigative reporter. And IMHO someone will break the code, someday, somehow...to get a juicy story.
To determine if this law has a chance, look for a proposed exemption for politicians for safety and security reasons. :wink:
Then a thunderous clamor from the rich & famous & CEOs, et al (liberal & conservative) who will want the same, or not support the law. Enough perhaps to cause the house of cards to tumble.
The tracking system, GPS or otherwise, means that every politicians vehicle location will be available, to every zealous investigative reporter. And IMHO someone will break the code, someday, somehow...to get a juicy story.
To determine if this law has a chance, look for a proposed exemption for politicians for safety and security reasons. :wink:
Then a thunderous clamor from the rich & famous & CEOs, et al (liberal & conservative) who will want the same, or not support the law. Enough perhaps to cause the house of cards to tumble.
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There would of course be an expensive buy-out option, and an exemption for official vehicles. Only trailer-trash republicans and Democrats will have to pay.
An approximation much simpler to implement is to build a lot more toll booths.
An approximation much simpler to implement is to build a lot more toll booths.
DanMan32 said:
I can see it now.
"A local man stood trial today for not letting the government know where he was at all times and for not letting them screw him over with the new gas tax, by jamming the GPS signal to his vehicle unit. He was sentenced today to 30-days in the county jail for destruction of justice. More on this, and other news, at 11."
Who wants to be the first one?
Long term, they are afraid of the lost revenue if hybrids catch on and almost every vehicle sold in 10 years gets double the MPGs of one now. That's half the taxes they used to get. Rather than learn to live without, they plan to keep the money stream flowing.
Federal Inspection stations, where all vehicles must go to have their annual mileage check done, is probably what will happen when the GPS idea gets laughed out of existance. No Federal check, no State registration. State will be told what you drove, so they can bill you for their cut. The Bureau of Alcohol. Tobacco, and Firearms will have Fuel added to the end, when they need to catch the tax dodgers doing odometer rollbacks and other anti-tax things.
I just hope in all the confusion, I can still get where I need to go...
Federal Inspection stations, where all vehicles must go to have their annual mileage check done, is probably what will happen when the GPS idea gets laughed out of existance. No Federal check, no State registration. State will be told what you drove, so they can bill you for their cut. The Bureau of Alcohol. Tobacco, and Firearms will have Fuel added to the end, when they need to catch the tax dodgers doing odometer rollbacks and other anti-tax things.
I just hope in all the confusion, I can still get where I need to go...
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