It Was Only a Matter of Time

Very interesting idea the gov' has there. as the article mentions there are a number of privacy issues/concerns for those of us that still value it. i don't see any benefit to the state to spend the money to implement another new way to gather taxes when the system in place is doing just fine.

I'm guessing the state figures, long-term, if cars are getting better mileage then people spend less on gas. so, they have to get ahead of the curve and figure out how to make up the difference now rather than later!

Yea, cause it would be insane to think that, if this was even a valid reason, to just use the odometer mileage rather than make everyone pay for privacy invading technology. I like how replacing a gas tax also further screws the guy who is trying to use the most conservative vehicle and rewards the gas guzzler owners.

People vote for their politicians, and can remove them on election day. The worst part of election day is the ignorant voter, the voter that votes just to vote and is either unprepared or uninformed.

People like those need to be stopped, or never put in office in the first place.

If a state were to implement a mileage based tax system wouldn't it be simpler and far less expensive just to require an actual mileage check every year? The motorist would just drive through a kiosk or the dmv, someone would look at the odometer, punch the vehicle ID number into a computer and bing bang, an average mileage figure is produced. The money could be collected as part of the state income tax filed each year. If mileage goes up or down the following year the tax would be based on the new mileage.

While the mileage based idea still seems unfair unless it's also based on vehicle weight the above wouldn't require a special piece of equipment to be installed in each vehicle.

Cheers

Oregon has been robbing the transportation industry for years with a ton mile tax. Guess they think they can pull it on autos too.

And what happens if someone else drives your car? Are you charged the extra tax on their driving? What about rental cars? Toll roads are already charging you a per mileage figure. Is this now a 2nd per mile charge added to that one? What happens if you live near the border and purchase gas out of state? Lots of open questions on that plan

Gas tax is the only fair way to tax mileage. It taxes the heavy vehicle more than the light ones. It also taxes the people that use the most gas..SUV over motorcycles.

Problem lies in how to sort the informed from the uniformed.

What is also bothersome is the fact that all vehicles are treated equally. In theory a small car has less impact on the infrastructure than a heavier vehicle. The calculation of impact is very complicated. Does the govenor suggest that people pay taxes for police and fire based on your location's usage? I have never needed the fire department while others have. Should they not pay for the serivice, not me? I live in a low crime area, so why should I pay? (the answer is that the high crime and fire areas have limited tax bases, so the cost gets spread to others-but that is another discussion for another time).It gets to a discussion of minutia that is unworkable.

You all seem to believe this is just a different way to tax people, or even another way to tax people. Don't any of you think that there might just be an intention to pry deeply into people's privacy with this, and to justify doing so by claiming that they "need" to do it to figure out how much you used the roads? I sure do, otherwise there would be no reason for this complex approach when a simple odometer reading would accomplish about the same thing without the invasion of privacy issue.

Why would the auto companies agree to install a new GPS system in every car built simply because Oregon would like it? It is not going to happen.

In the article they state that any car not equipped, would simply be charged 2 cents more a gallon, Can you imagine the public outcry if anyone was required to have one installed in non-equipped cars. This is just another example of how governments waste money on studies that have no value.

Europe's value added tax is about 22 percent.
Jen

for those interested:
http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/gps0509/index.php?st...

KISS. If you have to tax distance driven, use the odometer. Don't most places require an odometer reading every year for registration?

I register cars in a few states. NO state that I know of requires an odometer reading unless you are changing states, in which case all of them seem to get it in one way or another.

Texas required the odometer reading every time you renewed the registration. But it has been quite a while since I lived in Tx, they may have changed the requirements. My current state of residence does not require a reading at renewal time.

Hawaii does. In order to get your annual registration you need an annual safety check. And the safety check paperworks records the mileage.

I thought the gas tax was federal. How can the state replace it? Would it just be an addition? Can I just stay out of Oregon? Who else wants into my shrinking wallet?

Are federal and state. And they'll probably go up.

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