Posted on 10/15/2008 9:55:22 AM PDT by BGHater
Two hundred Triangle drivers will be recruited this fall to road-test a satellite-technology system that might be used one day to collect highway taxes on every mile we drive -- replacing the gas tax on every gallon we buy.
Computers mounted in volunteers' cars will use global positioning system tracking to count the miles -- even across state lines.
Participants will receive make-believe state and federal tax bills for their miles. For their time and their opinions, they'll be paid $895 in real money.
The $16.5 million Road User Charge Study will enlist drivers in six states to determine whether the technology works, and whether Americans would accept a new mileage tax. Volunteers will be asked how they feel about technology that collects information about their driving.
The federal government and 15 states, including North Carolina, are paying for the study to find a fair, reliable revenue source that can keep pace with growing transportation needs.
"The gas tax is not going to be a viable way of funding our highways in the future," Jon Kuhl, a University of Iowa professor who is directing the study, said in an interview. "The national Highway Trust Fund is already going broke, and the situation is going to get worse."
Gas tax collections are slowing as cars get more miles on each gallon, and as $4 pump prices force Americans to reduce their driving. A few years from now, many Americans might be driving plug-in electric and fuel-cell cars that don't use gas at all.
Michael Walden, an economist at N.C. State University, said the study will help Americans answer hard questions about how to pay for the nation's transportation infrastructure. He agreed with Kuhl that the nation needs to find a replacement for the gas tax.
"Perhaps a better way in terms of assessing someone's use of the roads is not how many gallons they use but how many miles they actually drive," said Walden, who is not involved in the study. "A mileage tax could be adjusted over time, as the cost of road construction goes up."
With the $895 bounty and an advertising campaign that will start next week, Kuhl and his team hope to enlist a diverse mix of car owners from the six-county Triangle area. Details are available by phone at 866-363-1975 (toll-free) or online at www.roaduserstudy.org.
After the participants are chosen and trained, their cars will be outfitted with GPS computers -- the satellite technology that drives popular dashboard navigation gadgets. Over eight months, starting in December, the car's computer will record the number of miles driven in each state, then upload the information to a central billing system.
Make-believe taxes
Cars will have make-believe per-mile tax rates based on their EPA-estimated fuel economy.
The tax rates are intended to generate about the same taxes on miles that the car pays in taxes on gallons of gas. The mileage tax would be higher for a heavy truck that burns a lot of gas, and lower for a fuel-thrifty hybrid.
A typical car rated at 24 miles per gallon will have a make-believe federal tax rate of 0.8 cents per mile, plus 1.3 cents per mile for the North Carolina tax, Kuhl said. For 24 miles, that's 31.2 cents state and 19.2 cents federal tax -- about a penny more than the current taxes on a gallon.
If the technology works, it could give federal, state and even local governments the option to set different tax rates for different vehicles.
Volunteers also will test of public attitudes about a new type of tax -- and about technology that gathers information about where people drive.
"Privacy is a hot-button issue," Kuhl said. "People rightly have a knee-jerk reaction about being tracked."
The system will only count the number of miles driven each month in a given state, he said.
"There's no way these units could be used to track people or determine they were in a particular place at a particular time," Kuhl said.
Some drivers will worry about government snooping, Walden said, and that could make it even harder to sell the idea of a new tax.
"I don't know if the mileage tax is going to be any better accepted than the gas tax, but I know we have a problem finding money for our roads," Walden said.
What you should grasp here...is that folks have cut back on usage (fewer trips) and started to move toward 4-cylinder vehicles with better mileage...along with hybrid usage. If you look at state gas tax revenue...you will find that its less that they are making today. It will continue in this trend.
It would be the same if half of you guys who smoke...began to quit or cut back drastically. The state would make a good bit less on smoking tax revenues.
Bottom line...they have make up for your less gas usage or your less smoking...so naturally, this makes perfect sense for the state revenue guys. The problem with this...is that folks would simply find ways to exempt various personal vehicles (volunteer fire department members would be exempted, mayors and EMT guys, etc).
The negative of this is that folks from out of states who pass through...and they aren’t going find a method go hand in hand with “guests”. This might sound good on paper....but it can’t work unless all fifty states go along, and they won’t.
If you ever leave the state you'll need to pay a different rate for that state's mileage tax.
Thus the necessity of the gubmint tracking your every move with GPS so they only charge you for miles driven in your state.
And, yes, congratulations, your gps data indicates you've been speeding and have some fines to pay!
And if you get pulled over and don't have your GPS device attached, well, good luck going to court to get your license - and car! - back.
Also, the way they're testing the system, you pay less taxes if you have a fuel efficient car and drive fewer miles. Well, that runs into the exact same revenue "problem" they're having with gas taxes! It's just easier to justify a mileage tax you pay once a year (they'll probably be nice enough to withhold money from your paycheck!) than to see the federal and state gas taxes posted on the pump every time you spend $40 to fill up.
ping
And the dirty secret for North Carolina is that the gas tax is tied to the wholesale price of gasoline, which means that their revenue stream is doing just fine, thank them very much (but of course they're STILL outspending that!!). We already have the highest state gas tax I'm aware of south of New England and east of California.
North Carolina has the most expensive gas in the Lower 48 States at the moment.
Anyone passing through N.C. should fill up in Va. or S.C.
The Dim State legislature has redirected Highway Funds to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars for years. Then they whine about the lack of funds.
As far as substituting a mileage tax for per gallon tax,
yeah riiiiight.
Wouldn't smaller lighter cars traveling fewer miles mean fewer highway repairs?
damn I drive over 100 miles per day 6 days a week...I have a hard time just paying for that gas, now I will need to pay for each mile I drive....time to through the bumbs out
People will roll back the odometer.
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