Posted on 10/04/2004 1:24:20 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
PHILADELPHIA - Paying your road taxes in the future might depend more on how much you drive than how much gasoline you pump.
Texas is among a group of states researching how to replace the fuel tax with a fee based on the number of miles traveled — making every road a virtual tollway. Transportation officials from across the world discussed the concept here at last month's annual meetings of the trade groups representing the highway and tollway industries.
Fees for miles traveled would be measured by Global Positioning System receivers embedded in vehicles. The system would track which roads a motorist uses so the virtual tolls could be distributed to the appropriate agency.
Each jurisdiction could set its own per-mile fee. Data would be downloaded from vehicles monthly for billing, or could be transmitted at service stations in lieu of the gas tax.
Jack Lettiere, New Jersey transportation commissioner, said most states are falling short of collecting enough gas-tax revenue to meet mobility needs and they desire a new funding mechanism.
"We're hoping this is a theory that can go into practice," Lettiere said at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials meeting. "It has a lot of useful benefits."
Researchers love the idea that driving taxes could be adjusted to promote or discourage certain actions. The system could charge more per mile during peak hours, for instance, or add a surcharge for heavy trucks and sport utility vehicles.
Those promoting a mileage-based approach to highway taxes contend driving should be metered and billed according to use.
"Why shouldn't transportation be seen as a utility like electricity, water, etc.?" Hal Worrall, a consultant for Transportation Innovations Inc., asked during a panel at the International Bridge, Tunnel and Toll Road Association conference. "It's perceived as free in America and thus produces a large demand."
David Forkenbrock, director of the University of Iowa Public Policy Center, has been working on a model for four years. His research is funded by 15 states, including Texas, and the Federal Highway Administration.
As more hybrid and alternative-power vehicles are built, Forkenbrock said, gas-tax collections will suffer.
"A tax at the point of purchase is inferior to user charges at the exact point of travel," he said, explaining the growth of toll roads in recent years.
Oregon has already tested a mileage-based charge. It starts a pilot project next year with 280 volunteer drivers in Eugene, who will be exempt from fuel taxes in exchange for paying their per-mile assessment.
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traffic@chron.com
Interesting that states' tax prostitutes meet with internation taxing authorities.
What gave you the notion that Fuel taxes were anything other than a money grab? As we move towards renewables, there will be no other way to feed the monster than a mileage tax. It is a certainty.
Then it isn't about conservation, green house emissions, and smog, but rather tax revenues.
I didn't say they were. But they're also another excellent reason, as far as I'm concerned anyway, to drive a fuel-effieicnt car :)
Probably because it is a necessity, and we already pay a heavy price for the priviledge. In the beginning, utilities were coops and non-profit, until someone decided that much more money could be generated by the infusion of the profit motive rather than the necessity motive ie doing something for the public good.
Fortunately most folks are able to meet the necessity obligations. Some things like electricity, are probably cheaper today than in yesteryear. The bottom line answer to the highway question, seems to reside in the highway trust fund which is like the social security trust fund. Had it been squirreled away, and not touched, other than the interest the fund earned, there would be no problem.
Now someone is looking for a solution to a problem caused by government. Pretty common problem. Solution, reduce the size of government so that they cause fewer and fewer problems. Seems simple enough, but probably not.
It's taxing business and enterprise.
Next we'll be taxed for every click of the mouse.
That freedom to travel isn't some inalienable right from God, it is the fruits of trillions of dollars spent on road construction. Combined state and federal funding for highways alone are somewhere around 140 billion dollars a year. That money has to come from somewhere.
The potential big brother aspects of pay by usage are frightening, but looking strictly at the economic side it makes alot of sense.
Is there a party of 'small' Government?
I'm sure their is, but they'd only garmer .005% of the vote.
Americans, in theory, want small government, but in practice they demand big government.
The American public gets what they want.
The first thing we got to do is cut off the checkbook for at least our "transportation officials" to travel around the world to violate the RICO statutes...
Depends on which Party is proposing it, of course.
So9
So9
This is the part that will insure this idea's demise:
>i>Researchers love the idea that driving taxes could be adjusted to promote or discourage certain actions. The system could charge more per mile during peak hours, for instance, or add a surcharge for heavy trucks and sport utility vehicles.Not gonna happen.
There seem to be a lot of truckers on I-95 who are not a bit concerned about this. Either that or the police have a policy of not giving tickets unless the trucker is going 15+ mph over the speed limit. I understand that truckers are under time pressures, but a few of them literally throw their weight around at very high speeds.
Only if I get to be King!!! then it will be just me!! lol
With all due respect it certainly is, at least in America. Otherwise we'd be like say.. Germany, where you have to 'report' to the local Police Department when you move to a new city. As to the roads and how we get "there" - we're paying for the roads in more ways than just the gas tax.
Anyway this 'pay by the mile' bull baloney is nothing more than some socialistic Urban Planner's wet-dream and is nothing more than an electronic version of "your papers please".
After all they really don't want us to travel anyway. "They" want us all to live in one big city using "public transportation" and see personal travel (commuting) and "suburban sprawl" as one big evil that must be contained - "for the common good".
Anyone ever seen the movie Gattaca?
The politicans recommending such a system would just love a system of control like they had in that movie.
"Is there a party of 'small' Government?"
Unfortunately, no. Both parties are for more gov't "help" for all of us.
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