Sounds like a tax.
If that's the problem they're trying to solve, there are less intrusive ways to accomplish it. (I conclude they are lying about the purpose.)
Sadly they’ll wind up w/ well more than 500 drooling imbeciles demand more govt oversight of their lives....and yours.
Good God.
as a native son,, what the hell happened to MInniesoda..
Our forefathers would be shooting by now.
I foresee a lot of problems with this, not the least of which is that there is a good chance that they will keep both types of taxes (remember the Federal Government gets a good portion of the tax on fuel).
Next, currently the tax is collected at the point of sell, the mechancism is already in place. It is difficult to cheat.
However, how are they going to figure out the miles driven? Attach a GPS device to your car? Talk about big brother.
Then there will be the forms to fill out, and then a department to process the forms, more unionized government employees.
The bottom line in all this is that governments want more money. It does not matter how much money they get, they always want more and they keep finding ways to get it.
This is an impossible situation and it can not continue forever. The American people are waking up but instead of addressing the concerns of the people, this administration along with their friends in the media are demonizing those that what to get spending under control.
This use to work. However, the American taxpayers are being pushed into a corner. Like any animal pushed into a corner with no way out, they become unpredictable,
I don’t think this is going to turn out well for those that believe in unlimited government and unlimited spending.
The tax on our gasoline is already a mileage tax. The more you drive the more you pay.
We already pay a mileage tax...the taxes we pay on gas. Of course, some of us pay more than others depending on our mileage.
Smart phones / GPS / programmed to transmit data.
So are they collecting the tax every day? Week?
No?
Then they do NOT need “GPS application that has been programmed to allow them to submit information”
The information is built into every damn car on the road.
It is an odometer.
The ONLY reason for GPS is to track where you are going, not how many miles you drove.
This is nothing more than desensitizing American Citizens to being tracked and watched every minute of every day.
.
In a note of irony, if the libertarian had their way... I'd be ok contracting with a private road firm for this same service.
I just don't want the GOVERNMENT having that much control over my movement.
10 years from now:
1. They won’t charge you for the drive to the abortion center , the union hall, or the Obama “re-election” campaign rallies. In fact, you might even get a rebate.
2. They will charge you $5.00 per mile to go to any Tea Party rally or church.
This is a horrible idea even for Marx Dayton.
It’s not going anywhere while the conservative Republicans now control both houses of the MN legislature.
Never-the-less, it certainly reveals alot about government attitudes toward our wallets, doesn’t it?
we are already taxed by the mile with the gas we buy.
this is double tax!
When Obama implements his mileage-based system for controlling us, he will just mandate the installation of the Progressive MyRate tracking device on all cars.
http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2009/12/progressive_insurance_offers_d.html
The gas tax is very interesting. We like to bitch about paying 40 or 50 cents a gallon and still having to drive on crowded highways. But the bottom line is that 40 or 50 cents per gallon is about 2 cents per mile. That is DAMN CHEAP for all the highways we have.
Next you look at public toll roads. Their cost ranges from about 5 cents per mile to 15 (maybe 20 in some cases). ANY toll road that charges over 10 cents per mile is SWIMMING in money (assuming that they have a captive audience that needs the road) and winds up dishing out half of their revenue to other ‘worthy’ causes (like the trains here in Houston). It simply becomes a ‘revenue engine’ as transportation planners derisively call it.
Then private toll roads. There still aren’t too many, but the ones out there are around 20 to 30 cents a mile. They can charge that much because they (generally) have a captive audience and have a protected MONOPOLY, without ANY political accountability (so they charge as much as they can to maximize revenue...without regard to their cost). The gas tax in Europe, which gives them $8.00 to $9.00 gas prices comes out to around 25 cents per mile - 90% of that tax is used for higher priority causes, such as health care. Here in Texas, our governor wanted to essentially hand over our highways to private ownership...and A LOT of people on this site were just gung-ho for the idea (or they were FReeping out of the governor’s office...since they did seem to go away once the governor, supposedly, dropped the plan). No matter what, this crap has to be STOPPED.
Finally, you have toll roads that use ‘Congestion Pricing’, which can go as high as one dollar per mile, at peak times (State Highway 91 in California). They charge that much because people are willing to spend $10 to drive 10 miles in 10 minutes, rather than an hour.
So when people here bitch about the gas tax going up a dime about half a cent per mile (while still being used on highways) because of efficient cars or construction costs, I’m sorry, but I turn into a liberal and say, LET’S DO IT. Because the alternatives to that level of increase are MUCH, MUCH, WORSE. And something WILL BE done, you cannot have highways without paying for them. The only question is whether the money paid by drivers will be used for highways, or used, primarily, for lots of other pet projects.
And you start seeing what happens now. As we price driving by the mile, does anyone here really think that it will stop at 2.0 or 2.5 cents per mile...when people elsewhere ARE WILLING to pay 30 cents per mile? Nope - once the system is in place, look for tomorrow’s drivers to be CASH COWS for lots of government programs...and if they get around to it, they may even spend some money on roads.
So sorry Ray LaHood, Mitch Daniels, and Rick Perry, you will NEVER get me on board (for any of the above schemes, beyond the gas tax).
Every American Citizen should REFUSE to participate (though sadly there are more than enough DFL whack jobs in Minnesota to give them their 500)
If they thought the reaction to the 55MPH speed limit was fun...