gas tax on miles not gallon*proposed* in orgeon...

California floated this same proposal and it dropped like a lead balloon. People do not like big brother looking over their shoulders.

With "peak oil" on the horizon, states should be emphasizing light rail, standard rail, bicycle and pedestrian traffic - based on renewable energy (solar, wind, hydro). As in Europe, increase the price of fuel to $6 to $10 per gallon. Invest the money in long-term transportation infrastructure, not short-term individual vehicle convenience and state tax revenue.

 

jsut raise the gas tax, all the infrastructure to collect the data will cost more than it will ever generate. How can the people in government be so dumb to not see this. I'll postulate that the IQ of the average politician is about 80 just slightly higher than room temperature. Let the person using more gas pay more tax. More gas bigger vehicle, bigger vehicle, more road damage. Stop the tax writeoff for business use of SUV's and passenger vehicles worth more than $30,000 or pay a road use tax per vehicle. Your transit system probably writes off thier fuel as well, quit that. Make transit users pay the real cost, that will put more money in the road tax kitty for repairs and improvement.

 

Oh this one comes up all the time but it never gets any steam. Actually, Oregon is pretty friendly to hybrids. They gave me a $1500 tax credit last year just for having my '05.

 

Why not have the Feds put cameras in cars and homes so they can tax us on thinking outside the norms... (Orwell's 1984).

And don't get me started on the Patriot act!

 

Hi All,

Taxing miles driven makes no sense as it does not factor in the weight of the vehicle. Vehicle weight is as much a factor in road cost as the miles driven.

By taxing gallons used one integrates both the vehicle weight and miles driven.

If average vehicle fuel consumption goes down, then its best to just up the per gallon tax rate!

This also has the impact of promoting minimul fuel consumption - a good thing. And the government will just need to increase the per gallon tax with the transition until the new equilibrium is reached.

The problem is if the government expects the same amount of tax money each year, when economic activity and presumably fuel consumption may not be constant. Then one has to question if the government is operating efficiently!

 

Talk about Prius mind share LOL !

But yeahh, each miserable government office only looking after it's own revenue stream. I'm curious, who footed the bill for the prelim testing, and how much did it cost ?

 

That would just stink, IMHO.

It's not something I hope happens.

 

In a country where the government operates in a fashion such as ours does, the Government's primary purpose is to continually justify its need for money and for existence. Since we've become so afraid of offending special interests, we are doomed to the neverending spiral of increasing costs, destruction of personal freedom and responsibility, and continual expansion of government power... at least, until we wake up and put a stop to it.

Unfortunately, the majority of our countrymen are content paying attention to the contents of sound bites, commercials, and focusing on what celebrities are doing and saying rather than thinking for themselves and caring about things that actually affect their lives.

We are slowly spiraling towards a 1984-ish type world...

 

True. However, the government does need the bucks to repair the roads, and that money is going to come from somewhere. After all, if we 'lessen our dependence on foreign oil' and get very fuel-efficient cars, then the money the government uses from the gas tax has to be made up somehow. It is our job as citizens to make sure they don't mishandle it. <_<

 

Why would people have to be tracked 'real' time? How about an occasional odometer reading instead? If you don't like the gas tax idea, what do you think about distance-based insurance? Those exposed to the greatest risk would pay the most, instead of being subsidised by infrequent drivers who now pay the same rates.

 

Can they actually put the monitoring into place without doubling the tax anyway?

Seems like a waste of money to be 'fair' about things. Have people drive by the DMV, get their odometer read, then pay.

Then they can drive to the polls on Election Day and throw the people who came up with the idea out on the street...

 

What a joke that law would be in enforcing. Half the state would 'fix' their odometers at every year's inspection to avoid/reduce paying the tax.

 

I once worked in an office where we were given a small digital "card" to plug in and make photocopies. I learned how to take the device apart, roll the numbers back, and never incurred a charge for copies. It will be the same thing with automobiles.

Another argument for PHEV where I pay the meter at my home.

 

Perhaps a box that once a month or so transmits the an odometere reading, but realistically the existing system works just fine, where to get the money from? Make all polittical offices non-paid positions, poof tons of money. Get rid of all illegal immigrants (I don't care what country thier here from, if the here illegally they need to leave). Force those that go on welfare to do a minimum of xxx number of community hours per week (the number depends on how much they need) including at least 10% of those hours working in the welfare office and have maybe 5 people at the top that are paid to work in the welfar office. These are just a few things, but can go a long way towards getting us the moeny we so badly need for other things and cutting taxes at the same time.

 

It's a dumb idea that has floated around for a long time. It's going nowhere, whether in Oregon or elsewhere...

Meanwhile, here in Oregon, we radically under tax vehicles, more so than almost any other state. Other than a modest gas tax, we have almost no tax revenue from vehicles. There's a very small license fee that comes to about $20 a year. But that's absolutely it: no sales tax when you buy one, no excise tax on vehicles. The State of Oregon even gave me a $1,500 tax CREDIT for buying my Prius. (Yes, my total tax credits come to $4,650!) For the foreseeable future, the taxpayers of Oregon will be making a net contribution to the operation of my car. Good deal for me, an absolutely awful deal for streets and highways...

While the lamebrained idea of taxing miles is going nowhere, Oregon does need to do something to support the transportation infrastructure. And, like in most states, the appropriate and responsible action is to increase the gasoline tax over the next decade or so. Ross Perot was right about that.

Taxing vehicles to build and maintain our streets and highway systems is NOT about "the government" protecting revenue. It's about us collectively paying for what we use...

 

Heh... I did some Contract work for DHS for about seven months... Talk about waste. DHS employees and direct contractors had brand new metal and glass cubicles.. all haf $700 chairs, brand new computer equipment, so on... I worked for a subcontracted firm.. You know what we got? Whatever this unnamed company had lying around.

Sure they need money to repair the roads. I think they can get it from the following:

My 25% Federal Taxes
My 3.06% State Taxes
My 1% Local Taxes
My 1% Local Real Estate Transfer Tax
My 6% State Sales Tax
The various taxes on my cable and cellular bill
My vehicle registration fees
My annual property taxes
Taxes I pay on all energy I consume
Water Taxes
Per Capita Taxes
Occupational Privilege Tax

Let's seeee....
Oh right..

My capital gains taxes
My annual inspection fees
My unemployment taxes
Taxes I pay on the value of the life insurance my company provides

Hmm.. what else...

Oh, right...

Tolls collected ad infinitum for roads and bridges already paid for dozens of times
Uh.. convienence store taxes
Take-out food taxes
Parking taxes
Lodging Taxes
Existing gasoline and other petroleum fuel taxes
Import and export taxes
Tariffs


Shall I go on?

<edit> I forgot FICA... you know... that money I pay every paycheck that I won't see one cent of because it goes to people too stupid to save for retirement? (existing elderly notwidthstanding... the promise was made to them... but baby-boomers have no excuse.)

 

That's how we track it in Public Safety... every vehicle is given a fuel key/card, and when you fuel up, you gotta type your mileage into the fuel pump. Mileage is collected and reported during servicing, registration, inspection, and so forth, to make sure you're not stiffing anybody.

 

Of course it's about protecting revenue. The people who think up these idiotic ideas have to ensure jobs for themselves, their friends, their staff, and their mistresses, don't they?

See my earlier post about all the ways the stupid government takes money out of my pocket. I'm sure if you add up every cent of taxes you pay in a year, it will come to a much more substantial percentage than just your income taxes.

<edit> I don't mean to sound too harsh, but I think I have a different perspective than many of you. As some of you know, I'm very involved in public safety...

I have a pretty good perspective on waste in the area of government that I choose to be involved in (public safety) and it makes me sick sometimes.... I can only imagine what the rest of the government and of the private sector that gets money from the government is like.

Remember, the thing about grants is, unless you use it all, you lose the remainder... so you'd better think up novel ways you can barely justify to spend each and every last cent of it... because if you don't, next time you apply for a grant, you won't get approved for the full amount... </edit>

 

So, if we all think this is a ludicrous idea, which it is, then how did Oregon get this far in pursuing the idea. Well, we have a lot of gun luvin’, pick-up driving Republicans surrounding Portland who never saw a tax they liked. Let’s all stick it to the Portlanders and their funny cars.

more on the Oregon mileage tax