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U.S. Considers Mileage Tax to Replace Federal Gas Tax

By: Tabris (Diary)  |  July 1st, 2009 at 02:36 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

From the diaries by Erick

I’m somewhat surprised nothing’s been posted about this since 2008. I thought I’d come out of my lurk-cave for the first time in a few years to share this.

Via Slashdot:
Kansascity.com reports that trials are underway by the University of Iowa for determining the benefits of a GPS-based mileage tax to offset the revenue decline by newer, more fuel-efficient vehicles.

God forbid people try to save money. A justification is that electric cars like the Chevy Volt “won’t pay a penny of gas tax” even though it has a GAS ENGINE that charges the motor. I’m also paranoid enough that I’d prefer not being harassed or suspected of a crime because I’m one of 200 other cars listed as “near” a crime scene.

Especially considering how difficult it is to get a GPS signal at times (New England), I don’t get how this would reliably track mileage. Will it cause interference with my navigation, or will nav finally be standard instead of $500 option? Are all old cars going to be outlawed? The only upside besides just reading an odometer is that states could use it to divy up their state-mileage-tax accurately.

This sounds like a great idea. As much as Google owns 95% of my life’s information, I feel much more at ease (perhaps hypocritically?) with them holding onto my info rather than the feds…

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COMMENTS

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  • http://www.RedState.com/ETCartman Kenny Solomon

    Hey President Jihadist, why not just implant a microchip with a ‘bug zapper’ feature in every American’s arse ?

    Better yet Obama, go for broke and put ‘heart plugs’ in everyone like The Harkonnen’s did in the Dune series.

  • gazill

    was floated around California a couple years ago. This may be one idea the ACLU would have issue with, not that Obama would care.

    • Tabris

      California will just keep them both.

  • GT350

    I’m a pretty good shade tree mechanic, even on newer cars.

    You’d better believe that the transponder on my next car is going to get removed and will be emitting a nice, regular signal from the corner of the garage, while it gathers dust. It will keep company with the restrictive catalytic converter, intake manifold, and exhaust system that I removed from my sports car.

    I don’t think I’m the only one who will have thought of this.

    • Dave_in_Fla

      Blocking a GPS signal is trivial. I guarantee that my cars will appear to never leave the driveway.

      I think the gubmit is under estimating the willingness of normal law abiding citizens (meaning those the work for a living and support the society leeches) are going to be willing to avoid these new taxes.

      Every deduction will be taken, with generous estimations

      People will turn to bulk purchase of fuel

      VAT will be subverted through barter (craig’s list, eBay)

      etc, etc

      Tax avoidance is about to become a cottage industry.

    • http://web.mac.com/mayo99/iWeb/Site/VladBlog/VladBlog.html Vladimir

      You do have to document mileage for title transfers, etc. Not sure it will be as easy as just whipping the GPS, if the Feds really want to tax mileage.

      • drothgery

        Who knew that gas taxes would encourage people to buy more fuel efficient cars? I mean, next you’ll tell me cigarette taxes have caused many people to quit smoking or cut back, and alcohol taxes have caused many people to drink less.

        Oh, wait, that was supposed to be the point.

    • dave_in_atl

      Anyone with even a lick of ability will be removing the GPS tracking device in their cars… and everyone else will pay someone to do it. :)

      If/when the average car on the road is powered by something other than gas I suspect the only other alternative would be to just charge a flat fee to register the car for the year roughly the equivalent of what the average person pays in gas taxes per year.

      But here’s hoping the Government is stupid enough to go the GPS route… I’d love to save a butt-load of cash.

      • tWrex

        has never been so much fun! Here’s my biggest issue with this. We implement this idiotic idea and begin taxing one of THE ONLY WAYS GOODS GET TO US. The hardest hit industry will be the trucking industry. This extra cost will not just be taken, it will be passed onto the consumer. So for small business owners who use FedEx or UPS, you’re screwed. And for the rest of us, that Kool Aid that was a quarter is now gonna be 35 cents. This is obviously a small example, but lets think about it some more. Cars are hauled on trucks. So that new BumbleBee Chevy is now gonna be an extra 2 grand because it had to go on a truck to get transported there. It’s just as asinine as the extra tolls that trucks have to pay. Yes they tear up the roads more than a car, BUT where the hell else am I gonna get my produce, clothes, electronics, tires, or… GAS! Yeah watch those tankers get extra tax on them and then we’ll have another 20 cents on the gallon. All in the name of saving… what is it we’re trying to do with this idiocy?

      • http://www.ssce.net/Web-Articles/Web-articles-indexed-authors.html#authors-l JLenardDetroit

        Any and every excuse to return vehicles to needing an inspection each year for you to:
        1. Get your License
        2. Get your License Plate
        3. Change Insurance co. to save a buck
        etc…..

        All will soon require an “Inspection” by yet another “Official Govt. Station” through another NEW Govt. Agency to be sure it is “corruption free” of the Free Market that would allow us to circumvent such through bribes…. Of course, Govt vehicles and Officials will be exempt.

        • MattGauntt

          Unworkable idea that a lot have commented on above.

          – Since bicycles enjoy the roads and bike paths are built with federal gas tax money, can we put GPS units on the bikes and charge them?
          – How do you collect the money? Will the federal government measure the GPS output and send you a bill? What happens if you don’t pay? Will the local gas station be charged with reading your unit and then adding that tax onto your bill? What happens if there is an error with the reading?
          – How do you accumulate miles if say your car is put on the back of a trailer and is just “along for the ride”
          – Big trucks, by their weight and tire pressure, do a ton more damage to the roads than small passenger vehicles. Is someone going to charge extra for that big SUV versus the Prius?
          – Will these be the pre-cursor to rush-hour pricing? (i.e. you pay more if you drive at 5:00 PM versus 10:00 PM because the roads are clogged).
          – Will there be a higher tax on people that drive in urban areas where roads are expensive to build versus rural areas where someone is driving on a gravel road?
          – Will there be a differentiation between driving on a road that was built with federal dollars (i.e. an interstate) or a local subdivision road that was built by the developer? Can the federal government tax you for driving on a road that they didn’t pay for? (think interstate commerce clause).

          This just brings up so many goofy side notes it is not even funny.

          • Lammo
        • dave_in_atl

          Even if you had to submit to inspections its not hard to put the GPS back in once a year :)

          And if GPS inspections are anything like Metro Atlanta’s Clean Air crap its only a matter of a little bribery, or a quick re-attachment of whatever you removed to make it “not so legal” :)

          • http://www.ssce.net/Web-Articles/Web-articles-indexed-authors.html#authors-l JLenardDetroit

            The excuse will be made that Electric Cars do NOT pay the Gas Tax (hear it already) and that is NOT FAIR (the usual Liberal line) because they are using the Roads and not paying taxes to help maintain them. SO…. They will want to “ONLY” (yeah right) impose the “Mileage Tax” on Electric vehicles. (see also: wrong, wrong, wrong – Annual Vehicle inspections will return comment above) in that name of “Fairness” to keep the Roads properly repaired and “safe” for all the countless Electric vehicles they hope to be forcing onto the Roadways.

            We always get these “ONLY” promises….. Seat Belt Laws won’t be “Primary Enforceable” and then the next year the same Politicians promising that to ram the law through change it to allow Police to …. I need not even bother to finish these sentences….. If there are people out there that doesn’t understand this principle yet they are complete Brain-dead, incapable of learning anything, MORONS!!!!!

            Constant GPS tracking wouldn’t be a necessity, they will just allow you to “voluntarily” send in your Taxes monthly or Quarterly, like Self-employment Taxes, based on your Odometer (yep, again open for tampering and fraud – again, see the Inspections comment above) and then you will be CHECKED at your Annual Inspection…. Or, they may “REQUIRE” Electric Utilities to start to include a “FORM” in the Monthly Electric Billing that Electric Vehicle owners would be required to fill out Monthly and the Electric company will be FORCED to do the Govt’s bidding by Taxing you on that Mileage the in your next month’s billing and send the Tax on to the Feds.

          • Tabris

            There was a news report the other day about how angry we should be that MA is giving up millions of dollars in federal funding because we can’t pull people over for not wearing seatbelts, and are one of the only states in the union to not do it. I always thought NH was the same, as if you’re >18 you don’t need to wear one? *Only* 69 or 70% of MA residents wear seatbelts.

            Beyond that, I’m not sure if someone already mentioned it, but I’d imagine it’d be trivial to tamper with the odometer such as to match the lowball GPS numbers if you messed with that, as well.

            Isn’t the fuel tax not even used to maintain roads? I always thought you got taxed by your city for local roads, and then the states generally handled 80% of the highway work.

        • http://www.fredsnews.com Fred Maidment

          They put it in new cars, I’ll rip it out.

          They fine me for it, I’m leaving. I’ve always wanted to see Belize…