Posted on 11/22/2004 4:26:38 PM PST by absalom01
POSTED: 10:16 am PST November 16, 2004
UPDATED: 6:19 pm PST November 16, 2004
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Tired of high gas prices? Right now, drivers are paying a tax of 18 cents for every gallon of gas bought. The new chief of the state Department of Motor Vehicles has an idea that would wipe out the gas tax, but at what cost?
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's newly appointed director of the DMV, Joan Borucki, wants to charge people for every mile they drive.Schwarzenegger said Tuesday that the idea has yet to receive in-depth consideration, but talk of a "mileage tax" is causing a political commotion.Honda dealer Katina Rapton says that the idea of an "mileage tax" is crazy, and that California already requires the manufacture and sale of clean-burning, fuel-efficient cars, which cost consumers more to drive off the lot."To me it doesn't make much sense," Rapton said. "And then turn around and penalize them on the backside for using their cars and getting better gas mileage? It doesn't make much sense."The mileage could be tracked with a device placed in the car. It's an idea that Borucki included in the governor's recently completed California Performance Review. The idea is echoed by transportation planners.
This is the essence of it:
EVERY ROAD A TOLL ROAD
They want to force people out of their cars, by any means necessary.
Miles Driven Tax? Isn't that called the Gas Tax?
Because a 'fee' would only require a simple majority, while a 'tax' requires two thirds majority.
Incidentally, this is being looked into in a number of states, all over the country.
Anyone remember Moonbeam Brown's DMV brain trust with the name Adriana Gianturco. She single handily set Cal Highway construction back 50 years into the future...
Ironically, the more efficient your vehicle is, the more taxes you pay. Everyone will just buy five gallon fuel cans, disconnect "Big Brother" and cheat the system.
I pay a "road tax" in the form of fuel taxes even though I am powering generators and air compressors on construction sites. How about lawnmowers? Let's really make it complicated!
The problem is that even people who would be willing to pay an increased gas tax aren't convinced that any increase would actually go to building and maintaining roads. Instead, they rightly fear that much of it would be used to build bike lanes and light rail boondoggles.
Well, you could do that, and you could also have a tiered rate based on vehicle weight or any other criteria you care to dream up.
I agree with you that this is less about revenue that it is about implementing the "green agenda". People are fed up with tax increases and will be uh, reluctant to increase the gas tax unless and until all of it is spent on road construction and maintenance, which these people don't want. That's the last thing they want, in fact.
The power to tax is the power to destroy.
They started researching this idea two years ago here in Oregon.
I'm going to put together an instruction manual for each car on how to disconnect the speedometer. I have 10,000,000 potential customers at 9.99 each (plus shipping and handling).
gas tax doesn't scale up the revenues as well.....people with free will can choose a more efficient car to avoid the tax, lowering the gov't take.
This way they get everyone (so they think)
After getting ticketed by one of those traffic cameras recently, I was thinking today while on the 405 how long it will be before there are cameras on the freeway taking pictures of all of us who are exceeding the 65 MPH limit...
I pay 37 cents a gallon in taxes. I have no problem with that IF it goes for what it was intended for. If they want to start dictating who pays more or less for the same product, then lets do it all the way. If I buy 5 gallons for my generator should I pay road tax fees on that 5 gallons? No? Then people will fill 5 gallon jugs and then leave and then pour them into their cars when they get home. Bad idea if you ask me.
Actually I am of two minds on this. One part thinks it's the greatest idea since sliced bread. Nothing like liberals screwing their lives up even more.
The other part acknowledges that California has the fifth largest economy in the world and if they finally destroy themselves their likely to take the rest of our economy down with them.
I took guilty pleasure during the energy crisis they had. I should go to confession over that now that I think of it.
Right -- there's a "pilot program" set up in Oregon for next year, I think.
The personal privacy issue makes this even more unpalatable, IMHO. I don't think that it's a smart idea to give this kind of power to a future opressive govenment, even if we completely trust our government as it's currently constituted.
If we had a true blue conservative governor, a lot of this foolishness would be nipped at the bud!
jailarity will ensue..
of course, the government is more entitled to spend my money than i am.
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