[rawhide]

Tin-foil hat alert!!!
The next step would be for the government to monitor you everywhere you go, via a court order. Say the police suspect you of criminal activity. This would be easy to do. They do this at this time now with big rigs on the highway. I just read about a guy doing this with his ex-girlfriend, by implanting a GPS device underneath her car. She would go someplace, then all of a sudden, this guy would just happen to show up, using his computer to track her.

[RISU]

Oh my God.

[JesseHousman]

Transportation officials from across the world

Interesting that states' tax prostitutes meet with internation taxing authorities.

[FLCowboy,]

As more hybrid and alternative-power vehicles are built, Forkenbrock said, gas-tax collections will suffer.

Then it isn't about conservation, green house emissions, and smog, but rather tax revenues.

[Publius6961]

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.

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...

[Servant of the 9]

Somebody Get a Rope.

So9

[Servant of the 9]

You can bet that these GPS reports will also be used to generate speeding tickets while they monitor your highway speed.

So9

[The_Victor]

This will never fly in Texas.

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.

[webstersII]

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.

[uglybiker]

Oregon has already tested a mileage-based charge. It starts a pilot project next year with 280 volunteer drivers in Eugene...

Okay blackie, you tell me. How come all the really stupid $#&% always seems to start in your neighborhood? ;-)

[this_ol_patriot]

If this comes to pass since these would be pay-per-drive roads we would expect better service and citys and other governing bodies would now be liable for damage to vehicles due potholes, nails, unplowed roads, road salt damage, wear to suspension from uneven pavement, time and money lost due to traffic jams and the whole host of other things we put up with now because the roads are "free".

Go figure.

[Hermann the Cherusker]

Don't need GPS to have this work. A straight billing of the miles traveled per year by your home state when you register should do just fine.

[blackie]

Have you seen this Salvation ~ would you ping the Oregon FReepers. :)

[Publius6961]

This is a serious question, addressed to political wonks and bureaucracy experts:

How does one go about identifying the specific individuals who articulate, promote and otherwise embrace this form of "public service"?

For the specific purpose of making sure they remain permanently unemployed in the public sector, of course.
I really would like to know.

[fightu4it]

Ah ha! Your are of course talking about the government's new X-32-1a Ultimate Tracking Device (UTD), part of the Homeland Security Act.

Where have you been Mr. Smith? Never mind, we already know! Resistance is futile!

[greasepaint]

Who in the Texas govt, wants this?
Please be specific.

[paleocon patriarch]

Only Government could come up with such a huge disincentive to high mileage cars. The better your mileage, the higher your proportional tax.

Brilliant!

[Alberta's Child]

There are plenty of reasons to be concerned about this kind of thing, but the basic premise of this type of revenue generation is sound. What they are trying to do is move toward a system where the users of the roadway system incur a cost that is more directly tied to the type of roads they use, the times they use them, etc. This is exactly what is needed to alleviate the kind of congestion that has become a recurring problem in every major U.S. city.

[lodwick]

Welcome to the collectivists' New World Order...