States Consider Mileage Tax Via GPS: Should Drivers Be Taxed for Miles Driven?

Sounds like a way to milk rural drivers for money.

This is ridiculous!! We already get taxed on fuel, and the resulting mileage on said fuel, at the point of sale... http://ts2.mm.bing.net/images...

CrAzY

Driver are already taxed more than non drivers, it's called the gas tax.

Well well well, it seems the Obama administration will get what it want's, duplicative taxation on transportation to ensure the the US has the same fuel prices as Europe et al.

Perfect for democrat liberals they would love it.

Of course. Gov't trying to tax its way out of a recession. Will never work, has never worked.

we pay a GAS tax already to cover the usage of the roads. AND for those who use electric, look at your electric bill and tell me that you dont pay taxes on your "fuel"...

EV users may pay taxes on the electricity they use to charge their vehicles, but none of that revenue goes to maintenance and repair of the roads they drive on. That still falls on the shoulders of drivers of gas and diesel fueled vehicles.

As I said in an earlier post, there aren't that many hybrid or all-electric vehicles on the road, yet, but more are coming. I think it would be a good idea to have the system for determining the fees they should pay for using the road in place sooner rather than later.

if it only applied to electric vehicles then I would say simplify the idea and just have extra fees when they register the vehicle each year

That still doesn't address the basic issue: those who use the road should pay for its' use and maintenance in proportion to how much they use it. Person A, owner of an EV, pays $XX in registration/licensing fees every two years and drives 10,000 miles per year. Person B, owner of a comparable EV, pays the same $XX bi-ennially and drives 10,000 miles per month. There's no equity in that.

It's the same for owners of gas/diesel vehicles who get widely differing mpg performance from their vehicles: the driver of a car that gets 20mpg is going to pay twice as much in road development/maintenance fees at the pump as the owner of the vehicle that gets 40mpg. (Assuming vehicles of similar weight, of course)

If you keep track of how many miles are actually driven on the gov't maintained roads by GPS or some other reliable method, regardless of the fuel used, then fees can be assessed against the vehicle for miles actually driven on the road, which is the goal and purpose of road use/maintenance fees in the first place.

additional vehicle registration fees for electric cars do not address road usage?

Keep the government out of our cars and our homes

You are correct: vehicle registration fees do NOT address road usage, even additional ones. That's why there are taxes on fuel purchased. The rationale is that those who use the road more will buy more fuel. The reality is that EVs purchase NO petroleum-based fuel, therefore contribute NOTHING to maintenance/repair of the roads they drive on.

If your answer is to just continue adding add'l layers of fees to the mass that we already have, that just continues compounding an already too complicated system of fees and charges. (Of course that will give those who complain that there are already too many fees tacked onto everything something to complain more about in the future.)

One fee structure, based on vehicle weight and miles driven, regardless of how much fuel was used or not used, that's all. And if you're all that concerned about the gov't "tracking" you while you're driving, get over it. There is already so much information about you available to the gov't, and the capability for them to gather more if "they" want it, this is a tempest in a teapot. If you have a cell phone made in the last four or five years in your purse or pocket, "they" can already track you, not your car, wherever you go.

GPS up our ass isnt the answer either. The government has no business knowing where I go, when, how often nor how fast I get there. They can go old tech and look at the odomoter and tax them on the miles they accrue between registrations.

States and the feds should just back waaaaayyy the hell off. They're already too much on citizens' backs.

Really this had to be dreamt-up by a NUT!

No, however I have to say it shouldn't affect people that live in town and work in that same town or a nearby one.
It always amuses me that people within a decent amount of walking/biking distance in my local town, still drive to work. And then they complain about gas prices.

HOW IDIOTIC!!! My husband works a 40 minute drive away from home. There simply are no jobs in our small town. So now, someone WANTS TO PENALIZE HIM FOR BEING GAINFULLY EMPLOYED???

Government's never ending probe for new taxes is appalling. With each new tax, government grows larger and our checkbook balances shrink.. When is enough enough?

I drive a lot.... my house is not near work and nothing seems to be close

No. The best solution is to privatize all the roads. We should sell our roads to private companies. Make all roads toll roads. That way we won't have to pay taxes. Roads for profit. Its the Far Right Tea Party way to go.

F#$% No!

Seriously? I already can't afford gas, now I can't afford to drive period?

Its either per gallon tax or miles driven, not both. Just more money for politician to piss away. Liberals just don't know when to stop.

But if they tax for miles driven, there are 2 paths to take. 1) have the State buy tons of costly GPS devices to install and hope to recover the outlay in usage taxes, or 2) check the odometer reading during annual inspections or renewal of registration. Hmm. The maker of the GPS systems is a regular contributor, so they'll most likely go that route.

We are already taxed for mileage it is called a gas tax.

So we are taxed via the gas we use and now miles driven, seems like a double whammy, bastard politicians.

We already pay taxes based in part on how much we drive because of the gas taxes.
We should simply raise the tax on gas at the pump and increase the taxes on the other fossil fuels also.

No actually it doesn't make sense and sounds like a lot of bureaucracy that comes with it. In the end you tax people higher that use a fuel saving car to drive to work daily than those driving a big car for less necessary things.

They touted this idea in the UK a few years ago. Let's just say the government realised that anmy attempt to force this through would've meant they weren't the government much longer.

The arguments were the same: equality because people only pay for what they drive, reduces pollution etc.

The reality that people saw were: those who rely on their cars for their livelihood penalised to the point of having to find another job, increased taxes for certain business reducing employment and competitiveness, a GPS that can tell the government where you are and above all the deep deep suspicion that this was just another way for the government to make more money.

What will it be a dollar a mile I have heard of a Taxi but this is taking the piss not funny at all who is in the driving seat now then get him and his fools out. The quicker they learn to walk the better.

Damn don't we pay enough taxes as it is?

We sure do

we get new taxes on a daily basis, if this keeps up much longer you will have no money and the government will have complete control....... but that is their goal.....

Should one be taxed for parking at the mall or participating in a parade? Or wearing shined shoes and a tie to a job interview or flying a kite? Perhaps we should be taxed on the people we elect to Congress adn Legislature! Purchase or rent the Laurel and Hardy movie, "Utopia" and compare those taxes to those levied by Congress and those who want to tax us all a lot more!

What will they think of next? The damned dirty bastards want every penny we have.

Apparently they are nuts. They actually approved the study http://www.mercurynews.com/br...

You bet, they should tax everything that touches a highway, freeway, country road, foot path, hell, they should start taxing the air you put in your tires. Why not force everyone to use a pedometer so they could tax shoe leather. All kinds of revenue these crooks haven't tapped.

Hopefully you have not given these idiots a new idea.