mileage tax as replacement for gas tax?

brneyedgrl80

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May 25, 2004
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This is interesting...

Oregon to test mileage tax as replacement for gas tax

By Eric Pryne
Seattle Times staff reporter

CORVALLIS, Ore. — Let's pretend someone waves a magic wand and turns every car into a fuel-sipping, gas-electric hybrid. What difference would it make?

The air would be cleaner.

Oil imports would drop.

And the transportation budgets of Oregon, Washington and almost every other state would deflate like a punctured balloon.

Think about it: Most money for highway construction and maintenance comes from state and federal taxes on gasoline. If people bought a lot less gas, highways would get a lot less money.

In Oregon, a state task force has concluded this scenario isn't all that far-fetched. It has proposed a possible long-term replacement for the gas tax, something no one has tried before:

A tax based on how many miles you drive.

The Oregon Road User Fee Task Force has spent two years fleshing out the concept, thinking through how such a tax might be calculated and collected. Now it's ready to test its ideas in the real world.

At the panel's request, Oregon State University researchers have developed technology that can distinguish miles driven in Oregon from those driven elsewhere, then allow a mileage tax to be calculated and paid at the pump in place of the state gas tax.

Next year, the researchers' mileage-recording devices are to be installed on 400 private cars in Eugene. Some of the volunteers will become the first people in the country to pay road taxes based not on how much fuel they burn, but on how far they travel.

A mileage tax has been discussed in Washington, too — not as a replacement for the gas tax, but as a supplement to it. A bill allowing the Regional Transportation Investment District to propose one to King, Snohomish and Pierce county voters cleared the state House of Representatives earlier this year. It died in the Senate, in part because no one could say exactly how the tax might work.

The Oregon task force, whose work has attracted national attention, has gone a long way toward answering that question.

But even if the Eugene field test resolves the technical and administrative issues, tough policy questions about privacy, equity and the environment will remain.

"We know that, if you do this in a certain way, you can actually make it work," says Jim Whitty, the task force's administrator. "But working through these issues is very, very difficult."

Read more here: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cg...d=2001780260&slug=mileagetax05m&date=20040705
 
Originally posted by brneyedgrl80
A mileage tax has been discussed in Washington, too — not as a replacement for the gas tax, but as a supplement to it. A bill allowing the Regional Transportation Investment District to propose one to King, Snohomish and Pierce county voters cleared the state House of Representatives earlier this year. It died in the Senate, in part because no one could say exactly how the tax might work.

I'm not the least bit surprised that Washington Democrats are looking to add yet another tax onto our shoulders. I like Oregon's idea of replacing the gas tax with the mileage tax.

However, can anyone say "tamper with the odometer?"
 
Originally posted by gop_jeff
I'm not the least bit surprised that Washington Democrats are looking to add yet another tax onto our shoulders. I like Oregon's idea of replacing the gas tax with the mileage tax.

However, can anyone say "tamper with the odometer?"

I know i would if it meant less taxes. ITs a free country, i aint paying anymore to drive.
 
1. This forces country folk to abandon their homes due to being unable to drive to town.

2. Tampering with an Odo is a federal offense, last I read --(that might yet only be applicable to dealers, but I think it is for everyone).

3. They will not repeal fuel tax.
 
Originally posted by DKSuddeth
that will only bring out newer cars with odometer chips to be monitored by the tax agencies.

Good point.

Actually, the computers are monitored by more important people.

GM pioneered on-star.
 
This doesn't seem fair, I'll be shocked if it works, and I'm sure people will find ways to cheat.
 
it is a stupid and bullshit idea. i am sick of politicians telling us how to live. fuck them.
 
What about those of us who chose not to live in the city I live in a very small rural area about 45 miles outside the city of cincinnati, my husband commutes about 45 miles one way to work so thats 90 miles a day. I am planning on going back to work myself here soon and I will be traveling probably around 20 miles one way at least if I want to find a job! No I will not sell my house and move back to the city so I dont have such a long drive. I bought my house to get my children out of the city and since they are only 8 and 5 we will be here at least thru 12th grade for my youngest which would be another 13 years.


Oh and


Chevy rocks!!! I have a 92 chevy s-10 blazer 4 wheel drive of course 183,000 miles would'nt trade it for the world of course gas is killing me $ 35.00 to fill it up.

:D
 
Very bad idea. As new technology comes availble tracking a persons mileage will not be all that hard. A GPS device in a new vehicle could be used to track mileage, where a car is being driven and the speed. It has been proposed in some European countries to place such devices with goveners in cars, when they reach a certain speed the govener will prevent them from going faster and a signal sent indicating such an occurance. Yet another way for the government to control you life, no thanks.
 
Originally posted by brneyedgrl80
This is interesting...

Oregon to test mileage tax as replacement for gas tax




Isn't it amazing how creative the government folks can be when it comes to figuring out ways to tax us?

But when it comes to cutting excessive spending, they turn into stupid pinheads.
 
I think this tax would never happen, if cars became more efficient, they would just raise the price of gas, maybe the 50C per gallon tax that Kerry wanted.
 
Once again it appears that myopia is rampant in government. Nearly all government policies have unintended side effects. And I believe most of those who posted thus far have not considered this; The side effect of this law will be to discourage the development of alternate fuels and fuel efficient vehicles.

Why should consumers cough up the extra money to purchase one of the new generation of super-efficient vehicles when state governments will punish them for being ecology minded? If one cannot recover at least part of the added cost of these new vehicles through lower fuel costs, then what is the point in owning one? Yes, it will still help the envirnoment and make us less dependent of foreign oil. But I doubt that most Americans are so altruistic that they will spend extra money for a fuel efficient car, knowing that the government is going to sock them with additional taxes for having done so.

Perhaps this is a good time to write your representatives and make them aware of the detrimental impact these taxes will have on the development of fuel efficient and alternate fuel vehicles.

Might also be a good time to write to the auto manufacturers. They're the ones with all the lobbyists.
 

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