Posted on 05/20/2015 8:52:09 AM PDT by Enlightened1
Oregon is about to embark on a first-in-the-nation program that aims to charge car owners not for the fuel they use, but for the miles they drive.
The program is meant to help the state raise more revenue to pay for road and bridge projects at a time when money generated from gasoline taxes are declining across the country, in part, because of greater fuel efficiency and the increasing popularity of fuel-efficient, hybrid and electric cars.
Starting July 1, up to 5,000 volunteers in Oregon can sign up to drive with devices that collect data on how much they have driven and where. The volunteers will agree to pay 1.5 cents for each mile traveled on public roads within Oregon, instead of the tax now added when filling up at the pump.
Some electric and hybrid car owners, however, say the new tax would be unfair to them and would discourage purchasing of green vehicles.
"This program targets hybrid and electric vehicles, so it's discriminatory," said Patrick Connor, a Beaverton resident who has been driving an electric car since 2007.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.myway.com ...
Because of being retired I had to cut my driving by one third. Order more item on line to still keep up the normal living. Found that occasional ordering on line that has shipping free I actually save. Always try to hold off ordering until I meet the free shipping and handling. Now that the tax is applied on some items, I still save. Hence, less gasoline and less tax they get. In California the gas tax is really high.
“Why should a compact 1.5 ton car pay the same as a 3-4 ton truck.”
I’ve got news for you they don’t today. They are called “weight fees” in most states. If you have commercial plates on your vehicle, you pay them, and they apply whether or not you drive one mile.
“Oregon gas tax is 30 cents a gallon. So basically anyone whose car gets better than 20 miles per gallon will see taxes go up at the 1.5 cents per mile rate. This is a windfall for people with big trucks, cars, and SUVs.”
So it will end up just like Obamacare, the 5,000 folks will all be driving large, low-milage vehicles so thanks to the program the state will loose revenue. I love it!
We’ve answered your inquiries, which are based on a false premise.
The gas tax revenues that the Feds are taking in are not going to roads or road maintenance. They are spent on unrelated transportation projects or to subsidize so-called “green” energy projects.
Kill the Federal gas tax and get the Feds out of highway funding.
I actually have no problem that OR is implementing a per-mile gas tax. As long as it stays within that state and my money doesn’t support it.
Guinea Pigs!
Watch it be mandatory as soon as they realize they won’t hit their volunteer quota.
The forces you enumerate, have very little effect on road surface deterioration. All you have to to is look at the “slow lanes,” where all the trucks are disposed to drive. It’s the vehicle weight, and on concrete highways, the movement across the expansion joints that causes the roads to break up. And once they are cracked, water gets under the running surface and the vehicles passing over “pump the base” causing the surface to break up all the faster. I have read articles that indicate that the way roads are built today, they would last almost indefinitely if they were limited to passenger cars and pickups. It’s the over-the-road trucks that do the majority of the damage to our highways, but they have “associations” that lobby to keep them from paying their true cost of using the roads.
I say they tax the folks for whatever rain that falls on their cars. Maybe the air their cars drive through?
Maybe the Demonicrat globull-warming extremists will try holding their breath to reduce their personal CO2 tax. That would be nice.
Oregon and Vermont have ALOT in common/BOTH Beautiful and BOTH have been SWIVED up by outsiders(Vermont=Massholes and New Yawkers/Oregon=Calipornians).
Or they could do what TXDOT just did in part of Houston and just double the tolls - from Katy to Houston it’s going to be $20 per day round trip. Will drive more people to the regular freeway lanes and then to the feeders and create even more of an already gigantic traffic mess.
DIL’s brother works for the Houston Mayor on a project to spend a lot of money creating bicycle lanes in the City rather than repairing the crumbling streets or thousands of potholes. He also proudly proclaimed that he has only used three tanks of gas thus far this year and takes the bus or his bike everywhere. His thought process just blows my mind.
The intended consequence is to push an idea that incentivizes citizens to move into cramped city hellholes... where out of desperation people give up their values and become democrats.
ABC will be pushing this idea soon - their ‘objective’ journalist will be getting the DNC press release to rewrite soon.
Washington Post suck ups will re-write the DNC press release too.
Road damage is based on weight and miles. Right now electric cars and uber high MPG cars are not paying their share.
Tax on gas fuel is very fair because the heaviest, most damaging vehicles get the worst fuel mileage, so the tax was proportionate to the damage.
One reason roads are so beat up today is from ever increasing gas mileage. A 2015 Ford pickup getting over 20 MPG highway uses half the gas compared to a 1970 Ford pickup getting 10 MPG highway. The modern truck is paying tax on half the gallons. So tax is not keeping up with damage.
I don’t understand taxing by miles instead of gallons though. They have to make sure a 3,000 lb Honda Civic is not paying the same rate as a 6,000 lb Ford Excursion, since the Ford is doing twice the damage. But there has to be some way to make sure the guy in the Chevy volt is driving tax free while you are not. Both of your cars are damaging the road.
Of course for commercial. I’d be willing to be that the damage commercial vehicles do to the roads is no where close to the fees they pay. That’s what we call a subsidy.
The current system as applied in WA State addresses everything I see here. The details:
WA State gas tax is .375/gal. Combined with fed tax that's about .56/gal. I have a fleet car which uses propane for which I pay an alt fuel fee in lieu of gas tax.
That's revenue.
The resistance to an increase in gas tax doesn't come from the cost, it comes from how it's spent. Again, examples from WA State, because I don't claim to speak for anywhere else.
The state constitution limits spending from gas tax revenue to roads or ferries. This p!sees off the politicians to no small degree. First, they want the money for social spending; second, they don't want new roads. So they've created some work arounds.
First, all construction $$$ spent on roads are subject to sales tax. That's an immediate shot into the general fund. Second, the state highway commission has a list of priorities for spending. 10 years ago it was reported that "reducing congestion" was nowhere on the list. There was an outcry. It was assumed that had changed. 10 years later, it does not appear on the list of priorities.
That was the last time we had a gas tax increase, I believe .095. Where did the money go?
To create fish-friendly culverts. To replace perfectly functional median barriers with poured concrete barriers. To tear up roads to add shoulders. What of the projects that were promised to win the vote?
Two major projects...the 99 viaduct/tunnel project and the 520 floating bridge replacement. The drill used for the project is the largest diameter ever used, I believe about 58 feet. It hasn't run for about a year. They dug a hole 120 feet deep to hoist it to above ground. They've discovered the engineering wasn't adequate for the upsize.
No one knows why the drill builder was chosen. The German company proposed a different design that, in hindsight, would have avoided the current problems. During an interview after the award went to a Japanese company, his closing words were, "good luck with that."
So no one knows when the drill will work again.
Google " Bertha"
I think most FReepers get it even if they don’t fully express what you’ve just summarized in your points 1-3. The issue is the Tragedy of the Commons. In Illinois we have ‘prevailing wage’ which just means that public projects must be done at the union determined scale. Worse, we have politicians who make money on it via campaign donations and kick-backs legal and illegal.
You have a serious corruption problem and a free rider problem as well. Perhaps a toll system is best, but then you have the trouble of a near complete monopoly. I think the correct solution is to end prevailing wage and let the market determine prices. Transparency and public indignation will do the rest.
$2 million per mile v. $20 million per mile is a no brainer. Let’s say they fudge and end up at $11 million per mile. That’s still a near 50% cost savings. The real problem is that this money gets used for other purposes - bike paths, trains, etc. - it even ends up in general fund.
Our current model of public governance, control over the ‘commons’, isn’t working and hasn’t worked in a half century. I don’t know the perfect solution, but I know which direction I want to go and it isn’t more government control.
7
Nah, it’s cool.
We’ll include a GPS in the system to tell us where you are at all times.
By the way, you went 60 in 55 zone twice last month. Here’s your tickets. We accept cash and PAYPAL online.
Have a nice day!
The MONEY GRAB schemes continue to masquerade as “good ideas” being offered by your local trusted politicians and designed to help SOLVE problems. Geezus!
The main problem I see with this is that it is intrusive. What is this ‘device’ going to be collecting? Miles driven or where you have driven? Once you submit to having the Government install some tracking device on your car, where is it going to stop?
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