States Mull Taxing Drivers By Mile

CBS | February 14, 2005 | [none cited]

[RightWhale]

Will the gasoline tax be eliminated when the "per mile" tax is added?

Who are you kidding?

[Still Thinking]

I forgot to mention that in that scenario, the attendant wouldn't even have to override the system. If the pump detects and can converse with the GPS, it charges based on the mileage. If not, the huge per gallon tax goes into effect (stick it to the out-of-staters, who have no choice, dodge a couple political pitfalls, and discourage people from disabling their GPS's). Nifty neato, huh?

[Modernman]

If the pump detects and can converse with the GPS, it charges based on the mileage. If not, the huge per gallon tax goes into effect (stick it to the out-of-staters, who have no choice, dodge a couple political pitfalls, and discourage people from disabling their GPS's). Nifty neato, huh?

That may or may not be Constitutional. Taxing in-state and out-of-state people at different rates has always been a Constitutional hot-spot.

[cornfedcowboy]

I drive about 60,000 miles each year selling on the road. OUCH!

[G.Mason]

"How would they handle someone from out of state? If this applied in California, what would happen to an Arizona driver passing through the State?"

Not sure.

I thought I heard that it was part of the computer system. IE: Your vehicle would keep the information everytime it was fueled.

Listen ... I don't think the public, as gullible as they are, will allow this. Some states? Perhaps, but with only (only?!) 30% of the population complete lunatics, fearing global warming, vanishing horny toads and whatever, I don't see this going anywhere soon.

Hell, the Dimocrats are openly trying to screw the young people by poisoning them (and seinors not even effected by it) against the S/S fix, so I don't see them (young people) supporting this kind of money grab.

[Still Thinking]

That may or may not be Constitutional. Taxing in-state and out-of-state people at different rates has always been a Constitutional hot-spot.

Don't forget two things:

1. Out of state drivers, who may not have the GPS device, will need to be taxed somehow.

2. In my hypothetical, the outrageous per gallon tax would be considered the default, with the GPS option voluntary (the state could even say that visitors may install and use the GPS based system) so there would be no difference between natives and visitors, in theory. De facto, any difference would be because the viability of the GPS factors out differently for visitors.

[Still Thinking]

Darn you! And to think I came this close to putting "and I don't mean my wallet", but thought it would ruin the humor!

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

"...if there were no big rigs and no cars with studded tires..."

Big rigs do more groving damage to expressways than do studded tires on cars - I have seen the evidence after studded tires were banned and roads were repaired.

"...ladder rated for 250lbs...a 350lb guy try and use it and it breaks instantly."

Everything that is manufactured and has a load limit or a stress limit has a safety factor built into it. In checking ANSI standards for portable ladders it looks like the required safety factor is 4:1, so that 250lb ladder would still support a 500 lb person and still be "safe" at an approx 2:1 safety factor. Note that this is not advised or acceptable practice.

[churchillbuff]

Will the gasoline tax be eliminated when the "per mile" tax is added?

No, it's going to be increased. I heard some "analyst" on the radio today say we're "lagging" "terribly" behind Europe, where the tax is several dollars per gallon! We've got to catch up! A per-mile tax won't stop them from keeping - and raising - the per-gallon tax.

[Ditto]

"I heard some "analyst" on the radio today say we're "lagging" "terribly" behind Europe...We've got to catch up!

LOL. Catch up with what? Their high unemployment and stagnant economies? Raising taxes will go a long way to meeting those goals.

[Still Thinking]

I heard some "analyst" on the radio today say we're "lagging terribly" behind Europe, where the tax is several dollars per gallon! We've got to catch up!

When I heard the socialists at the OECD kvetching about "unfair tax competition" (how dare people be able to move their investments to countries with lower tax rates) I thought there was no such thing. Now I can say I was wrong, there actually is unfair tax competition (compete with Europe to make sure we're just as confiscatory as they are)!

[BobL]

"This idea is being floated by DEMOCRATS"

Unfortunately these types of schemes to soak drivers cuts across party lines. Here in Texas, we've got a Republican governor who's lost his mind and is about to sign a contract with a company to build a 400 mile private toll road (and a lot more of them, if he gets his way). The company, Cintra (a Spanish firm), will be given monopoly-type protections that assure them the capability of soaking us dry.

The defenders of this scheme, which will cost drivers much more than a mileage tax will ever cost, unfortunately, are also Republicans.

[jiggyboy]

Bah, did anyone ask Big Oil how much it cost to add MTBE to the gas? Maybe, maybe not, maybe Big Oil came up with a number, maybe they didn't, but the fact of the matter was that WE didn't get asked, we got told, and got it rammed down our throats. This would be done with the same level of courtesy.

The only beef I see (that could not be solved with similar fascist tactics as the "reformulated gas" disaster) has already been mentioned -- what to do about out-of-state cars, cars without OBD functionality, etc.

[Chewbacca]

"the only way to enforce this is to read the odometer during the yearly inspection and levy the tax based on miles driven since last year."

That could be contested in court as a violation of the interState commerce clause. How does the State taxing you know how many miles you spent driving within its borders?

[BobL]

This is Post 95, and no one has yet disputed the claim that the gas tax is failure.

So I will dispute it. We are being told that these hybrids are so efficient that soon cars are going to use so little gas that there won't be any gas left to tax. One morning, the state will wake up and find no one using gas anymore.

YEA RIGHT!!!!

At the same time we're being told that we need higher fleet MPG, because we're so dependent on imported oil. So which is it?

The idea that California drivers are getting so green that they will barely use gas in the future is a total FABRICATION (even though it's hooked in some Toll Road supporters here in Texas). Yes there are few hybrids - and if they get great mileage and cut into overall consumption a bit, then increase the gas tax by an extra penny - DAAAAAAAAA.


This reminds me of the Air Bag // Seat Belt argument. We kept being told that we had to have air bags because no one wore seat belts - and people would not tolerate seat belt laws. But then once we got air bags, seat belts had to be worn for the air bags to work properly, so seat belt laws got passed, and we wound up with the worst of both: Laws that require seat belts, and pyrotechnics in our dashboards.

Just an example of how government can manipulate us.