A new little black box for your car plus a bonus tax.

[chargerboy69]

I am betting this will go over well.  There has been talk of this before, but it sounds like it is here, and they are ready to begin. A government installed little black box in your car will tell the government right where you are and how much you are driving, then tax you on the mileage you have traveled.

Sounds like California and Oregon are thrilled about the idea, and moving forward. Curtis. . it is not too late to move to Indiana.

And 200 years ago this country started a revolution for a 2 cent tax on a breakfast drink, and it wasn't even coffee.


http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-roads-black-boxes-20131027,0,6090226.story#axzz2iwVn3PKj

[rt green]

seems if its a wacked idea, California will be for it. glad I don't live there.

[Silver R/T]

California is like a giant cancer tumor, it needs to be cut out before this disease affects whole body.

[Ghoste]

Too late, it's already spread to DC and thats like it hitting your lymph nodes.

[myk]

California screams "leave me, I'm a lost cause" everyday I live there.  I've been in 'Vegas for the last six weeks and I must say I appreciate the lower taxes/cost of living as well as a friendly attitude towards the 2nd Amendment, HOWEVER...........this whole deal about having to smog cars newer than..............'67, I think it is?  Destroys the possibility of me relocating here...

[Fred]

That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of. It's like taxing the air we breath by the nose full.

[myk]

That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of. It's like taxing the air we breath by the nose full.

Dude don't give them ideas! 

[Mike DC]

  
It would be much simpler to just add a few more cents tax onto gasoline.  They're doing this computer mileage stuff because the public screams about gas taxes even though they are currently very cheap in the big worldwide picture.

Be careful what you wish for.

[Ghoste]

Except that people are also pissed because a gas tax means the hybrids and electrics aren't paying their share.

[green69rt]

In Texas we have a gas tax that is supposed to fund road improvements/construction and repair.   It's a convenient pot of money for the politicians in Austin to dip into to fund their pet projects.  By the Texas Constitution the money is dedicated but it when it comes to budget time they always find a way to "temporarily" divert to other uses.  So now they build toll roads to get more money from everyone.

[Pete in NH]

The idea of taxing the miles you drive has been around for quite a few years. As cars become more fuel efficient states are afraid they will lose revenue if they tax only gasoline. I suspect this idea will pick up support as fuel mileage continues to increase and tax revenue decreases. How else do you tax an electric vehicle? What concerns me more is the increasing use of technology to track where everyone is and when they are there. EZ Pass systems, all the cameras that record your vehicles license plates on the highways, even your cell phones GPS system. Did anyone else see the recent stories on those highway camera systems and the data being collected on everyone? It would not be hard at all to track your location and movements as well as the miles you've driven with that little black box. New cars already are equipped with "black boxes" that collect speed, braking events as well as other data that can be downloaded, supposedly to help design safer cars. I wonder when insurance companies will start using that data to deny claims.

[Nwcharger]

Here in portland there is 3ft wide bike lanes on almost every street and there are bike riders everywhere. I hate it. They need to tax those aholes and make them register there bikes to ride on there special bike lane that is in the road that I have to pay registraion fees to drive on.

[Mytur Binsdirti]

A few years ago, MA Gov. "Mini-Me" Patrick proposed a "miles driven" tax for automoblies & it was shot down. Unfortunately, I can pretty much guarantee that it will be back.

[maxwellwedge]

What starts in Cali usually spreads to the rest on North America.

This to me is more of a "Big Brother" thing....tracing our patterns, keeping tabs etc. Break out the tin foil hats!

[Fred]

Here in portland there is 3ft wide bike lanes on almost every street and there are bike riders everywhere. I hate it. They need to tax those aholes and make them register there bikes to ride on there special bike lane that is in the road that I have to pay registraion fees to drive on.

Sounds like Australia to me.

[Fred]

In Texas we have a gas tax that is supposed to fund road improvements/construction and repair.   It's a convenient pot of money for the politicians in Austin to dip into to fund their pet projects.  By the Texas Constitution the money is dedicated but it when it comes to budget time they always find a way to "temporarily" divert to other uses.  So now they build toll roads to get more money from everyone.

Sounds like Australia to me.

[XH29N0G]

The strange thing about the article is that they say it is supported by both libertarians and environmentalists.  They say that at least in Oregon it was intended to be balanced by a gas tax drop.  

[JB400]

 this is what happens when politicians shoot themselves in the foot. 

[Fred]

this is what happens when politicians shoot themselves in the foot. 

If they shot themselves somewhere else we wouldn't have to worry. 

[will]

The strange thing about the article is that they say it is supported by both libertarians and environmentalists.  They say that at least in Oregon it was intended to be balanced by a gas tax drop.  

The taxes will never be dropped. They don't know how to lower them, only how to raise them.

[Fred]

The strange thing about the article is that they say it is supported by both libertarians and environmentalists.  They say that at least in Oregon it was intended to be balanced by a gas tax drop.  

The taxes will never be dropped. They don't know how to lower them, only how to raise them.

That's right because they'll never be able to manage with less.

[Lord Warlock]

20 years ago, we voted in an extra 13 cents a gallon gas tax to rid ourselves of toll booths on Interstate 95, something no other state seems to do,  it was supposed to be for 6 years only, but the city/state refuses to get rid of the taxes we voluntarily added.  Now they claim it is for highway projects and upkeep.  I can't complain much about the roads around here they are in pretty good shape overall, although the bridges are getting old and brittle... and we have 7 major bridges around our city.  If any one of them fails its a major disruption.  A barge hit one and closed it down about a month ago, its still out of order and closed, disrupting traffic.  

If the government adds black boxes to cars, i will always have at least one vehicle that does not have a box installed, and i will manage to get around the stupid laws the greedy bloodsuckers choose to impose on us.  The weird thing is that they actually charge you for the black box that they install, that then tattles on your habits.  My new challenger has a black box that will tell the dealer the last speed you were driving at prior to an accident along with minimal other information.  But at least it won't tell them how many miles i drive, or how fast i drive all the time.   Just the last 10 seconds or so before an accident.

They blame the loss of revenue on fuel efficient cars, but they force us to drive more efficient cars by upping the mpg standards in every democratic election that is won.  They force us to accept electric and hybrid vehicles, then complain that we aren't paying taxes buying less gas.  hypocrites.  May they all choke on their greed.  

[myk]

No newer cars for me!

[Mike DC]

            
People forget that inflation takes the value out of taxes too.  XXX cents of tax money per gallon isn't what it used to be.  

[bull]

In Texas we have a gas tax that is supposed to fund road improvements/construction and repair.   It's a convenient pot of money for the politicians in Austin to dip into to fund their pet projects.  By the Texas Constitution the money is dedicated but it when it comes to budget time they always find a way to "temporarily" divert to other uses.  So now they build toll roads to get more money from everyone.

That's because Austin is full of Californians.

Sounds like California and Oregon are thrilled about the idea, and moving forward. Curtis. . it is not too late to move to Indiana.

Yeah, no kidding. Oregon is full of Californains too.

[XH29N0G]

           
People forget that inflation takes the value out of taxes too.  XXX cents of tax money per gallon isn't what it used to be.  

So your post prompted me to do some searching.  It looks like inflation adjusted price of gas is high compared to most times except the teens and 1920's.  It also looks like the inflation adjusted federal gas tax has been steadily dropping since the mid 90's after a spike that started in the 1980's.  What surprised me most was that the inflation adjusted tax for my state which I thought was high has also been steadily dropping.  If they account for miles driven per gallon it drops more - but that just reflects  a change in the average gas mileage.  There has been a flurry of roadwork recently in my area (which I like because the roads need it and the bad ones cost me $$) but I had thought it would have kicked up the gas taxes.  I think I get a  

[Mike DC]

       
Whose rate of inflation are you using? The official Consumer Price Index is basically govt propaganda.  Real inflation has been up near 10% for a long time.   

[ws23rt]

     
Whose rate of inflation are you using? The official Consumer Price Index is basically govt propaganda.  Real inflation has been up near 10% for a long time.    

It is true  Inflation sneaks up on us bit by bit like always.  It is not something the media tells us like they used too.
At the rate they are printing money now inflation will automatically correct at a much faster rate. (we will wake up and feel it like never before).

It's just another sneaky tax.

[XH29N0G]

I was indiscriminate on choosing my sources.  Simple web search for historic ___ inflation adjusted.  Some sites were .org some were governmental.  The tax graphs looked basically the same site to site.  I am not an economist, caveat emptor.  All seemed to show inflation adjusted gas taxes decreasing in recent times and spiking in the 1980's/1990's.  The price of gas though was high recently (assume due to demand and other factors).  

[Mike DC]

    
Gas has gone up in recent years because oil is just getting more expensive to get out of the ground worldwide.  The oil industry wouldn't be poking holes in places like deepwater seabeds if they didn't have to.  The cheaper oilfields have been found & tapped a long time ago.  

Gas went up, it stayed up until the demand was knocked down (read: the economy went to shit), and then finally fell back to a more normal price when the ongoing demand level was under more control (read: the economy stayed shitty).  

[Lord Warlock]

as long as oil prices are remaining high, we'll keep fracking it out of oil shale, until we are the largest oil producer in the world.  Then we may be able to reduce prices somewhat after we wean ourselves off of mideast/OPEC oil. 

[Mike DC]

         
Prices are never coming down IMO.  Not dramatically down in inflation-adjusted dollars.  

We knew how to frack decades ago.  It's just recently been domestically employed on a larger scale because the price of oil got high enough to make it cost-effective.  Without the high price, the fracking stops and the supply of domestic oil starts looking a lot smaller again.

[Lord Warlock]

Actually, as production of oil shale gets bigger, prices can come down because the ability to export oil will finance the lower price here in the states, just like most other oil producers have low local prices.  Keep in mind that we have plenty of other oil sources to use that are cheaper to produce from, The more productive fracking becomes, the cheaper the process will get,  they'll figure out easier and more efficient means to extract it over time. 

I wouldn't expect to see 1.00 gas again anytime soon, especially with the government giving money to everyone, but we also don't have to be stuck with 4.00 to 6.00 a gallon either,

[F8-4life]

 the future is coming to soon