Tax Per Mile May Be Coming

[chargerboy69]

A GPS installed in your car, and a charge of 10 cents per mile may be the price you pay to drive your car.

Of course this is also for the planet.

"a scenario which is part of a proposed long-range study aimed at finding ways to reduce traffic and pollution, while also raising revenues."

It is all about cash, nothing else.

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/07/18/bay-area-drivers-could-be-tracked-by-gps-taxed-per-mile-driven/

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/ludicrous-san-fran-area-drivers-could-be-forced-to-install-gps-devices-that-could-tax-their-travel/

[TheGhost]

San Francisco.  Shocker.

[Troy]

Many big cities already have enough cameras to closely "guess" the miles you drive in them. But having the exact mileage is so much better! People had to see this coming as early as ODBII but no one has the balls to stand up against it these days. Another reason to live as far away as possible from these privacy/rights sucking holes called cities.

I'm also willing to bet it has less to do with congestion than making money. Someone has to pay for all the votes - I mean giveaways.

If people could afford to live in San Francisco they wouldn't have to commute...

Troy

[440]

That's shocking, big brother is trying to control everything we do.

Need to find out a way to make it go backwards so they owe you money    

[Silver R/T]

Way to stick to the man!

[Dino]

It's been going on across the pond for a very long time, it was bound to come here eventually.

[Bobs69]

Screw them!  It comes to the States then it sure as hell will come to Canada.  This is the sort of shit.......................when something like this happens someone needs to make an assassination attempt immediately.  Just so there is no confusion as to why the people are pissed.

"Ways to reduce pollution."  Just an obvious cover up, and convenient side effect of sticking it to the common man who doesn't have the time/energy/or resources to fight back.  They allways stick it the masses because we are too busy trying to live our lives to take time out and fight back!

[Troy]

Screw them!  It comes to the States then it sure as hell will come to Canada.  This is the sort of shit.......................when something like this happens someone needs to make an assassination attempt immediately.  Just so there is no confusion as to why the people are pissed.

"Ways to reduce pollution."  Just an obvious cover up, and convenient side effect of sticking it to the common man who doesn't have the time/energy/or resources to fight back.  They allways stick it the masses because we are too busy trying to live our lives to take time out and fight back!

I'd be surprised if Canada didn't adopt it first.

Troy

[Mike DC]

          
There is a much easier, more practical, fairer, and cheaper alternative to this: add a few more cents to gas prices.  


But Washington knows what happens to any elected official proposing that.  The US public would rather pay another $10 indirectly than pay another 10 cents right at the pump.

       

[Cooter]

         
There is a much easier, more practical, fairer, and cheaper alternative to this: add a few more cents to gas prices.  


But Washington knows what happens to any elected official proposing that.  The US public would rather pay another $10 indirectly than pay another 10 cents right at the pump.

       

Damn Mike, your battin' 4 for 4! AGREED! Even when fuel prices were $4.00/gal, I STILL saw Big ass SUV's on the daily commute so those "Soccer Moms" could "Feel safer" while putting on make-up, talking on cell phones, slapping the kids, oh, and driving too.

[Bob T]

Hey, we've got it already on all diesel vehicles since 1978 
Road User Charges, cents per km, you have to go and buy a chunk of road user kms before you drive em. And if you get caught driving out of ticket kms then the pricks charge you double plus the cost of the original mileage. Its a form of Govt excise tax but it is not used solely for road maintenance.....

[Mike DC]

Damn Mike, your battin' 4 for 4! AGREED! Even when fuel prices were $4.00/gal, I STILL saw Big ass SUV's on the daily commute so those "Soccer Moms" could "Feel safer" while putting on make-up, talking on cell phones, slapping the kids, oh, and driving too.

Yeah, the higher prices weren't exactly terrible enough to affect what most people drove.  IMHO many of the people who bought more fuel-efficient cars during that period would have probably done it anyway for "non-economic" reasons.


That said . . . it has also been said that Washington would tax having sex if they could find a way to enforce it. 

Once they dream up a way to enforce a tax, it gets a lot harder to keep it from happening regardless of whether the money is still needed or not. 


IMHO the only way to avoid taxes like this is to keep the ideas from ever getting very well developed.  By the time they start seriously proposing the idea we've already lost a lot of ground.  Pretty soon it becomes a perpetual battle to keep voting it down.  They just keep throwing something up on the ballot over & over again until the public eventually wears down on rejecting it and they get the answer they want.

[Ghoste]

And electric cars make them want to do this even more as they lose revenue from gas taxes intended for roadwork.

[Mike DC]

             
Yeah, that's another issue.  

IMHO it's gonna be a while before there are enough electric cars in usage to make any big dent in their tax base.  And during the first half of the process of integrating electric, they might just consider the lack of equivalent fuel tax a bit more of an incentive to switch.  

 

[skip68]

I for one am sick and tired of these types of laws.  What I mean is it's OK to pollute if you pay a fee.  The air belongs to ALL of us and NOT the government.  With that said, I should be able to impose a tax on the government for the pollution they put in the air.  Makes sense to me.  We pay them but who do they pay?   They need to be accountable for every penny they collect.   I say we start sending the government bills for their share of the pollution I have to breath. 

[Ghoste]

Good idea and lets also tax them for the pollution they print and broadcast.  (okay okay, you meant actual pollution but I find some of the other stuff unwanted and offensive too  )

[TK73]

With that said, I should be able to impose a tax on the government for the pollution they put in the air.  Makes sense to me.  We pay them but who do they pay?  I say we start sending the government bills for their share of the pollution I have to breath. 

Uhhhhhh, what??

The largest amount of pollution put into the atmosphere in this country is from commercial shipping (trucks) and industry... Not to mention how MUCH industry pours poisons into our water supply

[440]

It's a never ending cycle. Like Mike said, when there are enough electric cars on the road they will find a way to tax them too. Unfortunately this is the society we live in today. I don't see it changing anytime soon or in the distant future either, so we can either bend over and take it or stand up for ourselves. Sadly in this day and age most everyone is happy to just bend over, and it's only getting worse...  

[Mytur Binsdirti]

This is nothing new. In 2009, MA Governor, Deval Patrick (who is a Mini-Me version of the Commander in Chief and his best friend), floated the idea of putting a chip in our inspection stickers for the sole purpose of charging an additional mileage tax.


"Patrick is also considering a new system that would charge drivers based on the miles they travel. Those trips would be measured by a chip installed in a vehicle inspection sticker.

Somehow the fact that the governor of Massachusetts wants to put a chip in the inspection stickers of Massachusetts resident's cars only rates one paragraph in the entire article buried towards the end.

Governor Deval Patrick isn't content with taxing the people of Massachusetts for just about everything that they do or buy in his state, he wants to follow them over the border and tax them on what they buy out of state, and he wants to just follow them and tax them for wherever they decide to go-period.

This is the sad state of affairs in Massachusetts, and the country in general. This is not the first state to talk about implementing a tax on miles driven and it won't be the last. Once this idea gets noticed around the country more and more states will try to implement it, and why stop there? A federal tax on miles driven would naturally be next. President Obama will want in on the deal."



http://americaswatchtower.com/2009/02/10/massachusetts-may-tax-residents-per-mile-driven-chips-to-be-installed-in-inspection-stickers/

[sixpack70]

I felt poor after I moved to Mass and I make good money and am not spending my money like water. Only 9 more months and Ill be heading south again. The government needs to stop screwing the populace and anything that makes it harder to acquire the basics. The ruling elite makes so much money they never feel the pinch. A tax on driving would hurt people who have to drive long distances. Not everyone can get a job near home and walk or bike. People also can't move even if they wanted to with the housing market they way it is.

[Ghoste]

Is it irony that the United States came into existence largely because of unfair and excessive taxation or is it just a sad and pathetic aside.  You could argue that cars are a luxury but I would offer that to a nation the size of the USA private transportation capable of traversing great distances is a little more than a luxury.  I would also offer that access to things that poorer nations consider luxurious by a populace that fall into the average of their society, are also one of things that make (made?) the USA a model to achieve.
Let them drive freely and find another way to fill the empty government election promise bins.

[richRTSE]

With that said, I should be able to impose a tax on the government for the pollution they put in the air.  Makes sense to me.  We pay them but who do they pay?  I say we start sending the government bills for their share of the pollution I have to breath. 

Uhhhhhh, what??

The largest amount of pollution put into the atmosphere in this country is from commercial shipping (trucks) and industry... Not to mention how MUCH industry pours poisons into our water supply

Actually buildings cause more pollution than transportation or industry....

http://www.documents.dgs.ca.gov/dgs/pio/facts/LA%20workshop/climate.pdf

[Budnicks]

I for one am sick and tired of these types of laws.  What I mean is it's OK to pollute if you pay a fee.  The air belongs to ALL of us and NOT the government.  With that said, I should be able to impose a tax on the government for the pollution they put in the air.  Makes sense to me.  We pay them but who do they pay?   They need to be accountable for every penny they collect.   I say we start sending the government bills for their share of the pollution I have to breath. 

amen brother...

[Budnicks]

Is it irony that the United States came into existence largely because of unfair and excessive taxation or is it just a sad and pathetic aside.  You could argue that cars are a luxury but I would offer that to a nation the size of the USA private transportation capable of traversing great distances is a little more than a luxury.  I would also offer that access to things that poorer nations consider luxurious by a populace that fall into the average of their society, are also one of things that make (made?) the USA a model to achieve.
Let them drive freely and find another way to fill the empty government election promise bins.

The more I read your posts, the more I like your views.... 

[Mike DC]

Is it irony that the United States came into existence largely because of unfair and excessive taxation or is it just a sad and pathetic aside.  You could argue that cars are a luxury but I would offer that to a nation the size of the USA private transportation capable of traversing great distances is a little more than a luxury.  

Yeah, but by building suburbia, we also built in our dependence on a fleet of personal vehicles.  It was a choice and we didn't have to make it.  We could have taken the nation in a much different direction a century ago.  America wouldn't be the same country that we grew up in, but it would still be here and we might be just as happy.  

I would also offer that access to things that poorer nations consider luxurious by a populace that fall into the average of their society, are also one of things that make (made?) the USA a model to achieve.  Let them drive freely and find another way to fill the empty government election promise bins.

Our "free" driving is the result of all kinds of compromises and indirect costs to our lives.  The price of fuel is never as simple as dollars & cents.  Raising the taxes on driving or on gasoline is just shifting the balance of taxes & subsidies a little bit differently.  

In the long run it doesn't matter what we want as much as what is economically viable in the future.  A vehicle-based culture doesn't work nearly so well in a 21st century world where energy prices (and thus, all raw materials) are higher than we grew up with.  We cannot drill & invent our way out of all the resource limitations that we are gradually running into.