A black box in your car? Some see a source of tax revenue

Los Angeles Times ^ | October 26, 2013 | By Evan Halper

[Chickensoup]

This is the way the telephone monitoring started years ago.
Phone companies wanted to charge for minutes used. Light users got behind it, not thinking that in order to be charged less they would have to be monitored more. Then after a while it became “Normal.”

This is another nail in the ELECTRONIC BARBED WIRE FENCE leftist are erecting around the American people.

[GeronL]

Black boxes on your shoes?

How long before they track your IPhone and tax your walkage?

[nascarnation]

Every state requires annual inspections.

Not in Indiana. Praise the Lord!

[matt04]

Will they allow a 9mm sized hole in said black box?

[cherry]

if its a tax that relies on your mileage, say at the end of the year, you can bet how many exemptions there will be...all govt workers for example...the favored minority flavor of the month...

I'm going to leave this country before its all thru or just implode..

[BradyLS]

Wonderful. Taxed for filling up. Taxed again for driving away.

[vortec94]

Could it be that the Highway Trust fund has been raided for mass transit projects in the cities at the expense of highways?

[Zhang Fei]

Could it be that the Highway Trust fund has been raided for mass transit projects in the cities at the expense of highways?

Sure. But the odds of getting that reversed are not good, and that's probably understating the difficulty. Weirdly enough, buses are not only cheaper than rail, but also way more flexible, but rail enthusiasts don't want to hear it. They're also optimized to operate as electric vehicles, but rail is what mass transit fans want - maybe it's the prospect of wasting billions in ongoing expenditures that gets them all excited.

[Praxeologue]

Will they allow a 9mm sized hole in said black box?

By then you will not possess a handgun.

Any car without a functioning GPS will be impounded, subject to repair.

All we'll need is another 9/11 and the systems will be installed to protect us from terrorists.

[Tzimisce]

Wow - they can tell us how far we drive, but not who’s entering the country illegally?????????

If they want to fix the roads maybe they can pay more attention to where the last road money went instead of how far we drive.

Home of the Free? Not anymore - now everything comes with a government tax.

[RFEngineer]

“....the endpoint being embedded microchips for all.”

Well, the sidewalks aren’t going to pay for themselves!

[Nowhere Man]

It is time for those of us in the rural areas (what the MSM refers to as fly-over country) to stop sending food to the cities. It obviously wastes too much energy and causes too much wear and tear on the roads.

Well, that has actually happened at least once if not more times. Around the year 270 AD, Egyptian Queen Zenobia stopped sending grain to Rome, she broke away and started the Palmyrene Empire and this caused a revolt, some say, it caused the downfall of the then Roman Emperor Quintillius. Quintillius returned with the legions form their battles in the Balkans (IIRC) and shared their bread with the starving people. That was not enough. Eventually, Quintillius' successor Aurelian went and conquered the Palmyrene Empire, Zenobia escaped but was later captured and executed when she reached present day Iraq. It did fail from Zenobia's view but it proved that it is a tool to use to fight when there is no other choice and as we know, 200 years later, he Roman Empire as it was fell apart.

[jurroppi1]

This brings up an excellent question. If the fedgov mandates a black box, then do they have to pay for the repairs when it breaks down and your vehicle won’t start? Do they have to have a capable set of nardware designers and programmers, or can they just throw and old set of goofballs at it ala obamacare exchanges?

Oh, I get it... driving is a privilege, blah, blah, blah...

[jurroppi1]

“nardware” heh... that should be hardware...

[i_robot73]

Don’t forget the ‘license fee’, ‘registration fee’, the tag fee, the...

As if the VIN wasn’t unique and permanent for ID (yes, I know there are those vehicles that have multiple locations)

As ALL things gov’t, it’s about control FIRST, $$ second.

[Disambiguator]

nardware

Given the context, that is an appropriate term.

[longtermmemmory]

this is being pushed by the companies that are selling the tracking devices.

This is the same method as the ignition interlock or traffic camera marketing.

The companies will bribe the politicians to make it mandatory.

The method to stop this is to pass referenda making this form of taxation illegal now.

[jurroppi1]

yeah, I agree. I could attach several other non-PC terms to it besides the aforementioned :)

[PeteePie]

Since the wonderful hybrids use as much road as the normal cars and are what is causing fuel tax revenue to fall, only these environmentally conscious vehicles ought to be subject to the tax. F’ng environmentalist-driven gov’t anyway! They push this hybrid crap and ethanol BS on us, (F’ing up the food supply chain) then force more tax on us because of it. Then I see another post where a f’ing cop is sticking a rifle in the face of what is ostensibly a law abiding motorist; tolerance low light on, no reset.

[Java4Jay]

Special interest groups and the means-tested would get wavers