Tax, Tax, Tax.

Once again, the fairest way to solve the problem of gas-tax revenue being de-coupled from actual miles driven, due to more efficient vehicles, is to tax miles driven x vehicle weight. This will probably require use of GPS, and there should not be hypocritical grandstanding against this on 'privacy' grounds, as half the U.S. population has probably already signed away Verizon/Google/AT&T being allowed to it. Further, this can be combined with a congestion tax....using a busy freeway during rush hours gets you taxed more, all else being equal.

 

Oregon sounds like a good deal compared to California. Out of control here with taxes. They would tax sunshine if they could. Don't give Jerry Brown an idea.

 

Would a tax on solar energy count?
I hope not, but few things state governments do surprise me.....I thought Oregon was 'green'....and there they are, taxing HEVs/EVs.

 

Sad day. You make a investment to save the planet and money and Government punishes you.

 

They should just come up with a Random tax day. Annual Mother in Law tax day.

 

Just an annual inspection to read the odometer.

Bob Wilson

 

On one hand, I see how fuel-efficient vehicles reduce the revenues from gas tax.

On the other hand, we hear about how dependence on foreign oil is a national security issue.

National security costs money, too, and our gas-sipping Prius reduce the overall demand.

Plus, hybrids cost more up-front with their additional systems, which means more sales tax and more interest if financing. Spending more up-front in the hopes of saving later on in fuel costs was a gamble in the first place--I'd be pretty peeved if I paid more up front and got screwed by paying extra taxes.

Wear and tear on roadways (which is what the gas tax is supposed to support) is largely a function of weight, so unless cracks or holes are already present, the main contribution of smaller vehicles is congestion.

I don't allow my phone to track locations (with the software updates all the time there's no way of telling WHO the phone will share your location with), but the Prius has GPS so it's already tracked.

 

Now with fuel efficient cars being taxed more wonder if people will be motivated to buy gas guzzlers. You have to question the intelligence of our political leaders.

 

Just so you know, GPS is a receive only system. There is no way for anyone to track you because you are receiving and decoding GPS signals. Just like there is no way to track you because you are receiving and decoding AM/FM radio signals.

And even if you turn your cell phone's tracking feature off, it is still tracking you and kept in a database. Not by GPS, but by the GSM or CDMA tower signals the transceiver picks up, the actual cell phone part of the cell phone. If the phone can pick up one tower, they know you are somewhere in a bubble with the center of the bubble being the tower and the radius a function of that particular tower's output power. The newer towers track the received dB of the incoming signal which lets them narrow it down to a "donut" shape based off of the tower's output power, the received signal strength, and then error margins. I(f you get 2 towers, you can then narrow it down to where the two circles or donuts overlap. If you get 3 towers, then you can pinpoint the location to within error marigins usually in the range of 10m to 25m. So as long as you have any sort of cell phone signal, the carrier and therefore the NSA knows where you are within 10 to 25 meters.

This isn't to point out some giant conspiracy or anything, but to point out some weird misconception that continues to spread around. GPS does not track you. It is a not a data connection. It is just a bunch of radio signals with very very precise timing information embedded. Cell signals are a tracking service, even if you tell it not to track you. When someone calls your cell phone number, the carrier needs to know where to route the call so it doesn't waste bandwidth on every possible tower over the entire world even though you are only on 4 to 20 towers.

 

And yet GPS is used to track stolen assets, and OnStar and similar services can locate your vehicle.

My Prius is tracked.

 

GPS can provide a location very accurately. It can in no way transmit the location anywhere.

OnStar transmits the GPS signal via a CDMA connection over the Alltel Communications network.

Your Prius is not tracked because it has GPS.

 

The point is that my Prius with Safety-Connect is tracked.

And even in a vehicle without an OnStar or similar service, a relatively-inexpensive transmitting GPS tracking device uses the signals of the orbiting GPS satellites to track vehicle position, speed, etc.

I understand what you are saying about receive-only GPS devices not transmitting, but then again, how would you really know what has been installed into your vehicle?

 

Yes, through cell reception. Has nothing to do with GPS. The data they send includes the location as decoded by GPS, but they could send anything including the audio bits of what is playing over the radio.

GPS only transmits time. That's it. There are enough satellites that a receiver picks up lots of different clocks. The signal picked up is received some amount of time after it was transmitted. All of these clocks are synchronized incredibly accurately. So by knowing which satellites said what time it was in relation to the others, you can figure out how far away you are in relation to those satellites. Voila, location. You can then use 2 data points over a precise time, and voila speed. That's all it is. There is no way that any GPS device can transmit anything anywhere. It receives 30+ very accurate clock signals, and that is it.

A device like a tracker may use GPS for data, but GPS is never used as a transmitter. A "GPS tracker" may use cell networks (like Onstar and Toyota Connect) or some of the older ones used satellite data like how satellite phones work. But it is still GPS + Data Connection = Tracker. And in reality, Data Connection = Tracker, GPS + Data Tracker = Accurate Tracker.

There is a very clear distinction that needs to be made so you know where to wear the tin foil hat or better yet what antenna to put the hat on.

 

The fairest way to solve the problem is to increase gas-taxes. Period. Why not $1 a gallon gas tax? This way, the gas hoggers will pay more. Those who are rich and drive Bentleys will also pay more.

 

If the politicians want to raise taxes on those people who conserve gas, then they should tax:
1. Pedestrians
2. Bus Riders
3. Car Poolers
4. Bicyclists

After all, these people also reduce the states gas-tax revenue.

 

a road use tax based on the odometer is probably in the near future. for people that have significant off-road miles, or out-of-state miles, a gps log could be used to exclude mileage from the odometer reading.

I suspect that the mechanics of the road use tax will be to pay in-advance each year based on 15,000 miles and then to receive a credit each year applied to future years if you record less than 15,000 miles and payment required if you exceed 15,000 miles.

one of the perceptions to get past will be that the road use tax should NOT be based on "damage to the road" like a weight based fee, but rather on the "benefit of the road" like being able to travel at high speeds, get timely emergency services, cheaply deliver goods, etc ...

every vehicle registered to use the roads should contribute to maintenance and construction of roads, regardless of any amount of mileage.

 

There seems to be a great divide in this country on taxes that is being played out right now. You have one group who wants to raise taxes and keep a bloated government the status quo and another who wants to cut taxes and free Americans from the shackels of the tax burden.

Look I work hard, save money and pay taxes on time. I do my share. Gov spends more than they bring in the answer is not to raise taxes but cut back and make gov more efficient. I have to pay what 1 out of every 3 bucks in taxes.

How many layers of Gov do we need. Federal, State, County, City, Schools, etc. All of them provide services. But frankly I pay taxes for stuff I never used or will ever need. To much fat. Times have changed. We need to change with it.

 

We already pay more to purchase these highly efficient cars, now we'll be asked to pay more to operate them. Lame.

Oil and car companies are ridiculous. Last night they're showing a wild fire in Riverside Cty (in freaking February???), next commercial is for some fancy SUV. I don't expect everyone to drive Prius', but still lot of performance car commercials. Maybe some will 'get it' when they are either dry as a bone with drought, or flooded out of their house.

Like the Wizard of Oz (oil companies) said 'pay no attention to the man (20 lbs CO2 / gallon) behind the curtain'. << It's nothing really, no biggie >> yeah, sure.