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Ewww that.
Massachusetts may consider a mileage charge
GLEN JOHNSON
The Associated Press
BOSTON - A tentative plan to overhaul Massachusetts' transportation system by using GPS chips to charge motorists a quarter-cent for every mile behind the wheel has angered some drivers.
"It's outrageous, it's kind of Orwellian, Big Brotherish," said Sen. Scott Brown, R-Wrentham, who drafted legislation last week to prohibit the practice. "You'd need a whole new department of cronies just to keep track of it."
But a "Vehicle Miles Traveled" program like the one the governor may unveil this week has already been tested , with positive results , in Oregon.
Governors in Idaho and Rhode Island, as well as the federal government, also are talking about such programs. And in North Carolina, a panel suggested in December the state start charging motorists a quarter-cent for every mile as a subs ute for the gas tax.
"The Big Brother issue was identified during the first meeting of the task force that developed our program," said Jim Whitty, who oversees innovation projects for the Oregon Department of Transportation. "Everything we did from that point forward, even though we used electronics, was to eliminate those concerns."
A draft overhaul transport plan prepared for Gov. Deval Patrick says implementing a Vehicle Miles Traveled system to replace the gas tax makes sense. "A user-based system, collected electronically, is a fair way to pay for our transportation needs in the future," it says.
Patrick, who had yet to settle on any of the ideas contained in the draft, told reporters last week, "I like any idea that is faster, cheaper, simpler."
The idea behind the program is simple: As cars become more fuel efficient or powered by electricity, gas tax revenues decline. Yet the cost of building and maintaining roads and bridges is increasing. A state could cover that gap by charging drivers precisely for the mileage their vehicles put on public roads.
"There needs to be a new way of thinking about, `How do we pay for all of this?'" said Richard Dimino, president of A Better City, a business-friendly group that considers transportation issues.
"One of the ways is thinking about the automobile like a utility: When we turn on our automobile and use it, we would be charged like we do when we turn on the lights and we start using electricity."
In Oregon, the state paid volunteers who let the transportation department install GPS receivers in 300 vehicles. The device did not transmit a signal , which would allow real-time tracking of a driver's movements , but instead passively received satellite pings telling the receiver where it was in terms of la ude and longitude coordinates.
The state used those coordinates to determine when the vehicle was driving both within Oregon and outside the state. And it measured the respective distances through a connection with the vehicle's odometer.
When a driver pulled into a predetermined service station, the pump linked electronically with the receiver, downloaded the number of miles driven in Oregon and then charged the driver a fee based on the distance. The gas tax they would have paid was reduced by the amount of the user fee. Drivers continued to be charged gas tax for miles driven outside Oregon.
Under such systems, one of which is already used in London, drivers are charged more for entering a crowded area during rush hour than off-peak periods.
"What the mileage charge does, if it's structured properly, is simply charge for the basic responsibility of people to pay for the amount of wear they put on the state's roads," said Whitty, whose state is still considering the mechanics of broadening the program.
Ewww that.
Stupid ing idea on so many levels
Those Massholes deserve it.
Maybe so, but the funds for road maintenance are going to have to come from somewhere.
! I gotta get a bike.
Texas is studying this BTW..........
It seems like tolls already accomplish this. And what happens to out-of-state drivers passing through massachusetts?
Anyone who gets an RFID chip to go on tollways without waiting in line can be screwed over on that already. What would really be funny is if they took those measurements of where you got on and off that your RFID sent them at the entrances and exits, divided by the difference in time, and then sent you a speeding ticket if your trip didn't take long enough.
Taking that to its logical conclusion, it seems there would be enormous potential to fine speeders anywhere if everybody's car is sending data to a satellite. Scary stuff!
that, jerkoff. What the are people paying taxes for then?
This is not really news. Rhode Island, and other states have contemplated this tax and many other ludicrous ones.
More and more and more and more and more taxes will never be enough.
If it replaces the gas tax, fine with me. The gas tax gets more and more useless as mpg increases even though traveled miles increases. Something needs to be done. I'd HATE GPS trackers to monitor mileage though. Way too much potential for abuse on that. Find someone to track mileage that doesn't involve putting a tracking chip in every vehicle. You want to record how many times my wheels spin and charge me based on that, cool. The moment you start marking my positions, screw that.
I am certainly in favor of scaling vehicle registration fees by EPA rated city MPG (I have a vehicle with one of the worst MPGs around).
Democrats just love big government!
become a preacher and drive for god.
goodbye taxes.
The general idea isn't too bad. I agree that there's probably too much abuse inherent in GPS trackers, as I don't think it would take that much to mod them in order to track someone.
Personal opinion, but I think the best way is to just jack up the gas tax.
1. No issues with personal privacy about being GPS tracked.
2. Encourages consumers to buy fuel efficient vehicles and/or to drive less.
3. Captures revenue from the out of staters passing through.
4. Lower cost of collecting tax revenue since the collection system is already in place, plus no need to hire a huge staff to track how many miles everyone is driving.
The gas tax is still in effect, only the amount of the tax is reduced by the amount that you have to pay for the "driving tax"
This is still my favorite idea. It seems "faster, cheaper, simpler." Faster - no need to install this chip in millions upon millions of cars. Cheaper - no need to install this chip in millions upon millions of cars. Also, no new department to be created with the requisite employees. Simpler - The infrastructure is already in place.
The US may consider a mileage charge.
Down with this type of tax. Government doesn't need to track my whereabouts even though they have that ability in some cir stances. But the issue of road maintenance and where are the funds going to come from still needs to be addressed. Increasing the gas tax seems more prudent considering that the collection structure is already in place but more tolls might be an alternative/ secondary way of supplementing the gas tax. Either way money has to come from somewhere and placing the burden on those that use it most seems fair.
Also I like the idea stated above about scaling vehicle registration fees by EPA rated city MPG. Over time that would force people to reconsider what type of automobile they drive and encourage more EPA/MPG friendly ones to be purchased. Green friendly and still gives the individual the right to choose in the matter.
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