By-the-mile road tax could be around the corner

[cookinwithgas]

By the way, how's Joe the Plumber doing? I see that Palin is reduced to trying to get Obama to run a marathon against her in Runner magazine for attention these days...

[cookinwithgas]

The only reason the Dems have the power they do is because the people you supported SUCKED SO BAD,their rejection by the American people is unparalleled in modern times. It's not the Dems fault they have so much power, as typically they cannot unite the far more factionalized liberal groups and energize them like the Repubicans have been able to do - unless you just piss everyone off so badly that it almost has to happen.

[2plankingpanther]

I heard that NC was thinking of implementing it,they check your odometer every time you go to get the tags renewed.Bad idea and it discourages driving fuel efficient cars ie long road trips!Instead of this type of tax,make everybody caught not using their turn signal a 25$ fine,also anybody running a red light a 250$ fine and I'm not talking about if the light turns red when the car is almost out of the intersection,I'm talking about these jackases that blatenly run red lights!

[Mintal]

Meh, company will just have to pay higher milage rates. Yes, inflation lives...

[cookinwithgas]

I can't believe they have not found a way to turn all those red light cameras back on already.

[LiQuiD]

It will discourage long road trips maybe, but I seriously doubt it is going to discourage driving more fuel-efficient cars. Paying less in fuel for that trip may offset the mileage tax anyways.

Look folks, do you like driving on smooth, well-kept roads? Or would you rather it be an obstacle course of potholes and other hazards? The money has to come from somewhere and it is only fair for the tax you pay to be directly proportional to how much you use the road. Simple.

It sucks that you have a long commute or whatever, but get over it and pay for what you use.

[PntherPryd]

not only is it asinine to think that the govt. has the wherewithal to distribute, install and enforce gps units on every vehicle, this idea actually punishes the taxpayers trying to conserve natural resources and money by investing in fuel-efficient or alternative transportation.

[cookinwithgas]

fuel efficiency has nothing to do with the amount of money it takes to keep the roads working.

People who complain about this are the same people who complain about welfare moms who are getting something for nothing. The fact is if we don't have money to fix the roads, they don't get fixed. "I pay taxes, so give me my roads NOW!" while saying "LOWER MY TAXES NOW!" are occasionally not going to work together well.

This method at least has the advantage of having the people who use roads the most pay for it the most - and it will indeed increase usage of mass transit, if not because of real cost savings, at least as a protest measure. If we got charged a nickel a mile, let's say, and it's 10 miles to work, thats a dollar a day to get back and forth. The bus is more like 4 dollars a day, but your gas is also paid for, as well as reduced costs of car maintenance. It may push a lot of people in the direction of using mass transit when feasible, which is the best way for us to use less energy and reduce congestion.

In the winter I use the bus fairly often, as driving a convertible in the winter kind of sucks - but it makes the commute seem shorter and less stressful.

[PntherPryd]

Originally Posted by LiQuiD

It will discourage long road trips maybe, but I seriously doubt it is going to discourage driving more fuel-efficient cars. Paying less in fuel for that trip may offset the mileage tax anyways.

Look folks, do you like driving on smooth, well-kept roads? Or would you rather it be an obstacle course of potholes and other hazards? The money has to come from somewhere and it is only fair for the tax you pay to be directly proportional to how much you use the road. Simple.

It sucks that you have a long commute or whatever, but get over it and pay for what you use.

why would I pay a premium for a fuel efficient vehicle if I'm not going to realize the economic payback for my investment? But the biggest problem is the inability to enforce this tactic and the potential for massive fraud. Not to mention the huge investment needed to monitor said mileage.

If the gas tax isn't raising enough money, increase the damn gas tax. Simple. Or don't. But taxing consumption is the simplest, most efficient and logical method to having highway funds be proportional to how much you use the road.

This would be like throwing out the cig tax and instead using a big brother satellite to monitor how much or whether you inhale. The per case/pack cig tax works just fine just like the gas tax. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

[Mintal]

It just isn't feasible in practice. Never work...