Posted on 07/01/2009 6:44:13 AM PDT by lacrew
The year is 2020 and the gasoline tax is history. In its place you get a monthly tax bill based on each mile you drove — tracked by a Global Positioning System device in your car and uploaded to a billing center.
What once was science fiction is being field-tested by the University of Iowa to iron out the wrinkles should a by-the-mile road tax ever be enacted.
Besides the technological advances making such a tax possible, the idea is getting a hard push from a growing number of transportation experts and officials. That is because the traditional by-the-gallon fuel tax, struggling to keep up with road building and maintenance demands, could fall even farther behind as vehicles' gas mileage rises and more alternative-fuel vehicles come on line.
The idea of shifting to a by-the-mile tax has been discussed for years, but it now appears to be getting more serious attention. A federal commission, after a two-year study, concluded earlier this year that the road tax was the "best path forward" to keep revenues flowing to highway and transportation projects, and could be an important new tool to help manage traffic and relieve congestion.
(Excerpt) Read more at mcclatchydc.com ...
I design roads for a living. You would be suprised at where highway tax money goes. My favorite is the restored railroad depot/museum in Topeka...paid for with TEA money.
Let’s really stick it to the rural folks. As if cap and trade isn’t going to devastate their wallets enough.
Oh well, most of them are in red states. /s
I thought the tax and spend Libs HATED SUVs and other low fuel mileage vehicles. Now they want to do away with the only real penalty they’ve ever had for owners of those vehicles.
But think about all the plug-in EV advocates. They will go from zero gasoline taxes plus high electricity prices to high per-mile taxes and high electricity prices.
Sweet!
Liberals hate rural folks - most of them are conservative. Yep, they'll stick it to you.
insurance co’s already are pushing for this.
they can charge you by the mile also.
It is rather nice that their greed is prompting them to reverse the incentives on fuel efficiency, isn’t it? When a Prius is taxed as heavily as an SUV for the same trip, there’s less reason to go with the less safe lightweight.
“I thought the tax and spend Libs HATED SUVs and other low fuel mileage vehicles. Now they want to do away with the only real penalty they’ve ever had for owners of those vehicles.”
Well, I don’t believe the gas tax will go away...we’ll just have both: a gas tax at the pump, and a mileage ‘fee’ in the mail.
And every hustler and garage/electronic tinkerer is "ironing out the wrinkles" to fool said device . . .
. . . which opens up another splendid avenue of "GPS checkpoints" to make sure you have no bypass device. And then we have the "Where is he now?" surveillance systems or mandatory record of your travels by the device "for police investigation of a crime". The options boggle the bureaucrats' mind - the sky (so to speak) is the limit.
Don’t worry, once the Cap ‘N’ Trade bill goes through, the standards for “location efficiency” that Boehner mentioned last Friday will assure that there are no “rural folks” left.
“insurance co’s already are pushing for this.
they can charge you by the mile also.”
Progressive already has a voluntary program like this...but more than just mileage. The system also monitors acceleration, speed, hard braking, etc. to adjust your rate.
I could see an ‘excessive acceleration’ tax (it causes global warming), etc.
Oh!
Well that’s MUCH better, then...
;^)
Rural people need to move into Walled Urban Worker Zones.
You know, for the children,...er..erviroment...ah, er...economic development and.., um, security, their own good. Those kind of reasons. Besides, we( the governments ) are burning down your farms, towns and making single, multi county size industrial farms owned by Goldman Sac and others that, honestly now dear Rural rubes, will be way, way more efficient.
/sarc
yeah.
you can see it from their point of view—it tightens up their statistics.
so, this one will be a democrat and republican vote in the u.s. congress.
statists all.
Tinfoil will effectively block the device; just cover it each time you travel outside your little local area and you’ll be fine!
The new tax will be in addition to the present tax on fuel.
What happens when people learn to ‘spoof’ the system by tinkering with the ID of their car? Seems to me that if there are people out there who can crack DirecTV, then some enterprising individual is going to pirate this.
So much for privacy as Big Brother will know where you are and where you go. Can thought police be far away?
Yaaa....so none of us have ANY right to anonymity or privacy where and when we travel? Sounds like a Washington DC clown’s idea of nirvana...
“University of Iowa” figures.
I wish I had never sold my old ‘85 Corolla. GREAT car for everything but the babe factor. Everything was easy to work on, even the odometer.
Going to make it tough on the Washington politicos to maintain their secret trysts when some bureaucrat decides to drop a dime on them & report their movements.
since other reports indicate that the Obama administration is allowing the GPS satellite system to go to hell in a handbasket, this ought to be fun to watch! (me, I’m just hoarding my tinfoil....)
What socialist Zer0 and his handlers wish to do is to get you into the cities. He understands cities are places where you are forced to take public transportation, unions rule, and, most importantly, people can be controlled.
This is part of his strategy.
“Tinfoil will effectively block the device; just cover it each time you travel outside your little local area and you’ll be fine!”
You’ll probably get pulled over for not emmitting a proper signal, and sentenced to a green gulag.
So have fun driving that roller skate you bought in order to save gas. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
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