Posted on 05/21/2005 8:56:17 AM PDT by agitator
Oregon tests novel mileage tax
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The program is the first step in a long-term plan to replace the state's gasoline tax, which pays for about 40 percent of Oregon 's road projects. As in many states, Oregon officials are worried gas tax revenues won’t be able to keep up with the rising costs of road building, especially with improved mileage from both traditional and hybrid cards.
Driver advocates and environmentalists said they will be watching the new program to make sure that it charges drivers fairly and that it does not give consumers an excuse to keep driving gas-guzzling cars.
Testing will start in September when the state transportation department plans to equip 20 privately owned cars with electronic odometers to record their mileage at gas stations. When drivers fill up, specially equipped gas pumps will read the mileage and charge 1.2 cents for every mile driven instead of the state's tax of 24 cents per gallon of gas.
The cars also will have Global Positioning Systems (GPS) so drivers will not be charged for driving outside state borders -- the tax is only meant to be applied for use of Oregon roads. Tracking cars' locations also could allow extra fees for traveling in congested traffic areas or during rush hours. Drivers also could be charged less if their car is more fuel-efficient, said James Whitty, manager of the Oregon Department of Transportation division that is overseeing the project.
A bigger, year-long test of 280 cars is scheduled to start in March 2006. After that, the state transportation department will make recommendations to the Legislature on whether to phase in the new-fangled tax statewide, possibly over 20 years to ease privacy concerns and spread out the costs of the new technology.
Elliott Eki, spokesman for the Oregon AAA, said the state absolutely needs to find a new source of money to build roads and bridges. But charging drivers more for driving in congested areas could force more people to use neighborhood streets to avoid extra fees.
Chris Hagerbaumer, a transportation specialist with the nonprofit Oregon Environmental Council, said the state should impose such a new tax slowly. "The issue is, if we make a flat switch, we would lose the incentives for people to purchase fuel-efficient cars," she said.
The mileage tax was the main recommendation of a 2001 state task force studying new ways to pay for road projects, which rely heavily on gasoline taxes. Those fees lost much of their purchasing power as the inflation of the 1970s and 1980s increased the costs of road projects. At the same time, carmakers began to slowly improve fuel efficiency, so that drivers were, in effect, paying less to use the roads, the task force found.
Oregon raised its gas taxes six times from 1981 to 1991 to keep highway funds flush, but politicians have been unable to muster the political will for any increases since then.
In the next decade, gas tax revenues in Oregon are projected to level off, then permanently decline as rising gas prices push consumers to drive less or buy more efficient hybrid electric or other alternatively fueled cars.
Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski (D) has said his state will become the 10th to adopt more stringent auto pollution standards than the federal government, standards likely to be achieved through greater fuel efficiency.
The number of hybrid vehicles in Oregon grew by 103 percent from 2003 to 2004, the second-highest percentage increase in the nation after New Jersey, according to R.L. Polk & Co., an automotive data-collection firm. The number of hybrids increased across the nation by 81 percent over the same period, the analysts found.
Send your comments on this story to: letters@stateline.org. Selected reader feedback will be posted in the Letters to the editor section.
Contact Eric Kelderman at: ekelderman@stateline.org
Oregon officials are worried gas tax revenues won’t be able to keep up with the rising costs... especially with improved mileage from both traditional and hybrid cards.ok so let me get this straight, they are worried about getting LESS revenue from the high milage cars and saying they aren't paying their fair share... so a little farther down
Drivers also could be charged less if their car is more fuel-efficient,
ok... so just exactly WHAT is the point of this bullsh!t??? other than another layer of government waste that is...
just damn...
With all due respect, it seems to me that you're under the false impression that the politicians actually spend the gasoline tax money on roads - they don't. That's the whole problem.
And remember, besides the state gas tax, there's the Federal Gas Tax which is ALSO supposed to go back to the states for the roads. But again the pol's put it into the General Fund and spend it on a host of other feel-good, do-nothing, wasteful programs for special interest groups who vote in blocks. And for a new diamond necklace for their 'secretary' Roxanne, recently of the Hi-Ho Gentleman's Club.
Oregon's GPS tax scam is just like the State Lottery (where they exist). All that money is supposed to go for "education". And the Lottery was also supposed to solve the education funding 'problem' forever - Riiiiight. As it solved it for about a month because that's how long it took the state pols to rob the Lottery Fund for their 'special programs' - and a matching diamond ring for Roxanne.
The govt will keep on taxing so what's a taxpayer and consumer suppose. Any victory of tax relief, small or great, is welcomed even absurd ones.
Why don't we just send in all our money and let them return back to us what they don't feel like using? If we have enough left for gas and food we should be happy, right?
Full time employment for lawyers...
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
Interesting, just agree to ever increasing taxation, or be socked with ever increasing taxation?
The money for roads will be raised, somehow, and if you do not allow the gas tax to provide that money, you WILL get big brother in your cars.
What about making government responsible to the people?Whatever happened to a government of the people, by the people? Why lay down and be sheeple? Government should not have free reign to just take as they see fit, that was one of the reasons this country was founded, was it not?
Now, deal with that, please.
Better yet, realize it already was dealt with, when a boat load of tea was thrown into a harbor. Start voting the tax happy out and hold government responsible. Vote in representatives that will be accountable and stop the excessive waste in spending at all levels. You might be surprised at how much money there would be.
Next up: Oregonians seeking bodily implants to record miles walked to help the state pay for sidewalks and parks.
WHO keeps VOTING for this stuff?
I like living in Portland but I swear that if they do this I'll leave.
"With all due respect, it seems to me that you're under the false impression that the politicians actually spend the gasoline tax money on roads - they don't. That's the whole problem."
...and do you really think that the money collected by this tolling scheme will go into roads? Of course not - but as the gas tax lapses we ARE enabling this scheme to take place. There is no way around it.
Some states, like Washington (from what I've heard), actually do a reasonable job of preventing diversion of gas taxes, but I'm sure there are plenty that don't.
My only point is that the gas tax has an upper limit, as people in this country will not standby for $6.00 per gallon gas, as they do in Europe, but they will pay the equivalent of $6.00 per gallon gas if it is collected as tolls, as we are now doing in Texas (and elsewhere).
You really do not want this tolling system, and anything that gives the government an excuse to impose it, just assures that it gets that much closer - and you will not be able to stop it then.
Sounds like a great plan to me.
LOL, this is the greatest plan ever. Taxing gas makes so much more sense. If I drive a gas guzzling SUV 1000 miles I pay the same tax as someone driving a 50 MPG Yugo. So eventhough I consume 100 Gallons of gas and the Yugo consumes 20 Gallons, the idiot in the Yugo still has to pay the same tax! These guys penalize fuel efficency!!!
Just wait until some moron decides that the data collected can be used for "other" purposes. The mind boggles.
In the Socialist State of Oregon? Apparently.
Please! Don't give them any more ideas.
Do you really believe that we don't make enough money on gas taxes to support our infastructure? I live in CA and I know we take in enough money to more than pay for new roads if the enviros would just let us do it without environmental inpact reports. We pay more than enough taxes in every state now to fund our highways.
Think about it. I don't have the figures at hand but the fact that every year we have more drivers increases the amount of revenue the states take in with regards to gas taxes. This type of tax is just another way to rip money from us. The money taken in from gas taxes is not used for building roads but spent on whatever comes to mind for the liberals.
We don't need more taxes, we need fewer and we sure as he** don't need MORE gas taxes or a road use tax added to them.
"You would be amazed..."
No I wouldn't. You can lead a horse to water but... :)
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