Posted on 03/26/2006 5:10:28 AM PST by runvus
Gas tax on miles, not gallons, tested PORTLAND, Ore., March 25 (UPI) -- Oregon is testing the idea of collecting highway funds through a tax on miles driven, rather than gasoline consumed.
Eighty percent of Oregon's highway money comes from its 24-cents-per-gallon gas tax. If the state promotes reducing gasoline consumption and consumers tend to buy the fuel-efficient vehicles, including hybrids, highway revenues would take a hit, The New York Times reported.
The test program uses a global positioning system to track miles driven, using a black box to calculate how many miles are clocked in-state, out of state and during rush hour.
The experiment is designed to increase state revenue for road maintenance without raising gasoline taxes, but critics say collecting GPS records poses new privacy issues.
"The existence of such a database, which would, for the first time in history, allow for the creation of detailed daily itineraries of every driver, raises obvious privacy concerns," said David L. Sobel, general counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a civil liberties group in Washington.
Take note. This will happen everywhere that liberals get into power.
Not to mention that it eliminates the price signals that motivate people to invest in gas-saving cars to start with.
If the voters are not responsible, then why vote?
Spark Gap generator. Shot Noise. Good for about a 10' radius when powered with modest current. We used to make them in high school and get all excited when we pulled up next to a car at a traffic light and their radio would go all static. Very useful when trying to stomp out mom and dad's joy of listening to Debbie Reynolds and Roy Orbison on the oldies station when we worshiped "Freebird". Oddly enough, I love Roy Orbison and Debbie Reynolds today and I'd put my foot up my kid's a$$ for medling with my airwaves.
>>test program uses a global positioning system to track miles driven, <<
Libs love to talk about civil rights, but only the civil rights that are in fashion. Privacy is a basic civil right, as is the right to travel. Any time an activity is taxed, government must be allowed to collect records and audit those records and activities to assure itself of compliance.
Just as the income tax destroyed financial privacy, the milage tax will destroy the privacy of travel.
This monster must be slain before the State can give birth to it.
It's mostly the braking forces on large heavies that damage the pavement on highways. Large bulk milk tankers here on rural Wisconsin roads can just chissel the pavement right off of they apply hard braking during certain conditions like spring and fall. It's a well accepted fact that those bulk milk tankers cannot and will not stop for you, your pooch, deer, kitties, or skunks.
Here in NC, you have to get an annual inspection and get all hooked up to a DMV machine that reports directly to their database. They'll bust you if the property taxes aren't paid on the vehicle and for a myriad of other infractions (you must make criminals of them!) If Oregon has a similar procedure, why not just report the "official" taxable mileage then?
Better yet, why not just leave us the hell alone?
This will cost millions (if not more) to implement. Compliance will have to be enforced, lawsuits will have to be defended. Older cars will have to be retrofitted with the devices --and you can bet that folks who can barely afford to put tires on their "hoopty" are going to scream pretty loud at the cost of installing a GPS tracking device.
What a harebrained scheme. It won't go anywhere. Then again. . .
I agree. Mileage exemptions will be handed out for political purposes. The govt will have another means to socially engineer the public. Ultimately, the middle class would get squeezed.
I do not think the public could fund roads built to runway specs. Although I do think we have way too many roads in this country. Maybe if we built far less of them we could do a much better job on the quality/longevity?
The test program uses a global positioning system to track miles driven, using a black box to calculate how many miles are clocked in-state, out of state and during rush hour.
Libs judge others by their actions and they judge themselves by thier intentions..............
Do as I say, not as I do!
After that incident, I realized it is easier and does less damage to the plane to land gear-up in the nice soft grass right next to the runway. Some dirt and seed is a lot cheaper. Very little need to reskin the belly either. The prop strikes on dirt will do minimal damage to the engines as well. They hit hard surface and both engines are trashed.
Because the next step of socialism requires implementing identification and tracking features on the masses of asses. We will only start with tracking their vehicles, then we will move to tracking.....
They would have to get into issues of blocking the GPS rcvr in order to conceal how many miles are driven
Can you imagine a terrorist strike on a GPS database used for such tax collection purposes? Politicians in Oregon would be demanding we nuke the entire middle East if it cramped their luxury standard of living on tax revenues.
Next time just put the gear down. ;o)
See post #12.
Yep! Even a lib politician would turn into a raging hawk.
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