Vehicle Mileage Tax

Obama Administration Considering Taxing Vehicles By Miles Traveled

February 21, 2009

ScienceBlogs.com - We should make gas taxes part of a car's purchase price. It would certainly beat Transportation Secretary LaHood's proposal of a vehicle mileage tax (and is there any stupid idea that Republicans won't embrace?):

Some surprising news out of the Department of Transportation today as Ray LaHood suggests that the Obama administration is considering taxing people based on how many miles they drive. A vehicle miles traveled tax, as the proposal is often called, has been under consideration in states like Rhode Island and Idaho and has, not surprisingly, proven pretty unpopular.

First, it's a tax. Second, it requires the installation of a GPS chip to record miles driven and beam the information to centralized computers. Sorry, did that sound Orwellian? I meant a small transponder that informs the government of your driving habits.

Crap. This is hard to sell.

In the interview with the Associated Press, LaHood set the vehicle-miles traveled (vmt) in opposition to a gasoline tax, which he "firmly opposes," at least during the current recession.

Ezra Klein thinks this might be better than the gasoline tax, however:

There's some logic to that. Gasoline is a very visible, and very unpredictable, cost. Every summer, particularly in recent years, the price of fuel becomes a tier one political issue, in large part because it rises so much from the winter. It's hard to imagine a gasoline tax being sustained. Vehicle miles traveled, by contrast, is both steadier and less visible.

Massachusetts Gov. Wants to Track Cars on State Roads with GPS Units in Each Car

February 17, 2009

boingboing.net - SamSam says: "Gov. Deval Patrick wants to charge drivers by how much they drive on state roads, and at what times. How is he planning on doing this? By adding GPS units to cars, giving at least some state employees the ability to track cars where ever they go."

"It's outrageous, it's kind of Orwellian, Big Brotherish," said Sen. Scott Brown, R-Wrentham, who drafted legislation last week to prohibit the practice. "You'd need a whole new department of cronies just to keep track of it."

Taxing the Miles You Drive - GPS to Track and Record All Vehicles?

February 2, 2009

Associated Content - Gas prices were too high and we weren't green enough. Fine, buy an electric car or gas saving car and all is fine. Right? Wrong. The Oregon Governor thinks gas taxes are going away. His answer? Tax the miles you drive with GPS technology. Think they are kidding? They're not.

The Oregon governor believes taxing every mile you drive is fair for all. Really? What if your job requires you to be on the road? What if you live in rural areas and have to travel to a job or to get groceries? You too will pay the tax for the miles you drive. GPS, remember when you thought it was a cool idea?

Not only will the miles you drive be taxed, but also the congestion time at which you drive. If you put your car on the road at congested times of traffic you will be taxed a bit more.

How will this GPS work to track you? How will anyone know when or how many miles you drive? The gas pump is going to tell them! When you fill up with gas, the gas pump will read your car's GPS. It will tell them how many miles you have driven since you last filled. It will also tell them where (what roads) you drove and at what time you drove on them.

Remember when smokers begged for people to be a little understanding? Remember when smokers warned that there would be a tax that ALL people would have to pay on something they held dear? Well, I think the GPS tax for tracking and taxing every mile you drive just may fit that bill.

This tax, like the cigarette smokers tax, will have devastating consequences on the poor and middle income people. With a tax on every mile we drive, not to mention tracking information on every mile we drive, are we seeing the "hope" and "change" that Obama and the democrats were talking about?

Car manufacturers plan to outfit every vehicle with a GPS unit. I assume they will make the rest of us install one like the TV boxes. Taxes, taxes, taxes. Start adding them up people. Your paychecks will not stretch that far.

A tax on every mile you drive. GPS tracking and recording every mile you drive. There ought to be a law.