Mileage Based Road User TAX

Wall Street Journal ^ | 2/1/2006 | Advert

[spokeshave]

Have at it FRepers.

Note the boondogle a simlar project created in Germany.

Basically, the Germans wanted to satelite track all the tucks (lorries) in and in transit through Germany in order to make the truck owner pay road fees.

The project cost billions of EUros and was eventually abandoned.

Comments......>

[cowtowney]

This is being done in London. It is a way of controlling traffic (travel through downtown London costs more at busy times) and for charging for use (you use the highway you help pay for it).

I don't see a problem with the person who uses the roads paying for the roads. The problem is that the federal government wants to know where you are via GPS.

[Smokin' Joe]

I live in North Dakota---next major town about 120 miles, no matter what major town you are in. If you aren't in a major town, you have to drive to get to one. No mass transit options except Amtrak along the northern part of the state.

We already have a 'mileage based tax', called the fuel tax. The more you drive, the more fuel you use, the more tax you pay. We do not need to monitor the movement of every vehicle to collect that tax.

[Psycho_Bunny]

This is a good idea if some cars got 15 MPG and some got 150 MPG.

But as it is, it's just the typical, asinine behavior of bureaucrats.

 

[spokeshave]

I was hoping a few FReepers would sign up and perhaps put a "spoke in the wheel" of this proposed tax program.

Next thing is the system will be able to monitor and shut down cars "just for the children" or some liberal bulldust.

[demlosers]

Dead On Arrival.

[de Buillion]

"I don't see a problem with the person who uses the roads paying for the roads. "

We already do, it's in the tax on gasoline. Are they gonna drop that? Don't hold your breath! And what about toll roads, especially toll roads on roads that have already been built and paid for?

[samm1148]

Hey I have a novel concept: How about government scales back spending? That is what ordinary people do when they are short of cash.

[spokeshave]

I was on a focus group a couple of years ago.

The "authorities" in this case the faceless communications commission wanted to make the area use 10 digit phone numbers for local calls (running out of area codes).

The focus group was to review the advertising collateral that would be used to promote the scheme (as it was already decided)

After half an-hour or so the focus group got real agitated...and came out strongly against the whole program.

Swapping phone numbers to start a recall of the commission and work against the idea,....I thought they were going to riot.

[Nam Vet]

The idiots in Salem are working on this for Oregon. It would work on some kind of GPS and would be read at the gas stations when you refuel. Tax you on miles driven and NOT on gallons used. So much for the libs wanting fuel efficiency. Get 100 miles to the gallon? You would pay the same tax as someone getting 10 MPG.

Nam Vet

[bigfootbob]

They're 1/2 way thru a 4 year study using 200 people with transponders in their cars here in Western Washington. Each participant is given an account with several thousand play dollars and they are suppose to tailor their driving habits to fit the play money budget. Any play-dough left after the study ends the participants can redeem it for greenbacks.

The Feds and our regional transportation planners are going gung-ho for it. It will be standard policy nationwide in 20 years.

Doubt my word? Did you think there'd be smoking bans and homosexual marriage 20 years ago? I rest my case.

[Howlin]

and the Research Triangle in NC (Durham, raleigh and Chapel Hill.

*Sneer*

[ken5050]

Good morning..up early, or late?...Blizzard is "howling" ( snicker) here in Chappaqua...wind woke me..

[Smokin' Joe]

If I could, I would, but I noticed they are only interested in metro areas with a population the size of my state (or more). As far as shutting down the vehicle, that is probably coming if not already possible. I would imagine that Onstar technology could, with modification, be used to shut down vehicles by VIN, type, or other criteria. The question is who benefits?

Automobiles have become so expensive that their market has been hurt.

Add a few more thousand for tracking devices, etc....and they will all be imports.

Tracking people will require more employees, more equipment, and more money. Will the new taxes pay for themselves, or just be a make-work program??

As if we need to bear the burden for more of that.

We need for government to return to somewhere closer to its Constitutional boundaries and quit pissing away the public treasuries on boondoggle studies instead of paving the d$mned road. That, after all, is what the fuel taxes were for.

[Howlin]

Late.

How much snow do you have?

[TheZMan]

Yeah, but they really need to drop toll roads and gas tax if they're going to do this.

Of course, I drive about 10 miles a day total with no toll roads and get about 24 mpg. Thankfully I don't deal with a lot of this stupidity.

I feel sorry for the hour-commuters and truck drivers though.

[BurbankKarl]

We already are taxed on miles driven....

[Nextrush]

Just another liberal scheme to give us the non-automobile, Cuban lifestyle. Bicycles, mass transit, etc. Just like the good old Soviet Union and Germany in the 1930's.

[ken5050]

I'd estimate about 4-5 inches on the ground...storm appears to have slowed..current forecasts now show the heaviest snowfall during the day..stopping by late afternoon...coastal areas are really getting pounded..could be 6" more than inland..

[DoughtyOne]

The federal and state taxes on gasoline are supposed to pay for our highways. I'll be damned if I'll sign on to additional taxes just because our local and federal governments have diverted the funds from their intended purposes.

Road use fees? Hell NO! Toll roads? Hell NO!

Instead I recommend hanging the nearest public officals that suggest such a thing. And if they're stealing our funds to use on other projects, they should receive the same fate.

This is one citizen that's had it up to here with bait and switch.