Congress Mulls Research Into a Vehicle Mileage Tax

BJ_Covert_Action writes to let us know that an Oregon congressman has filed legislation to spend $154.5M for a research project into tracking per-vehicle mileage in the US, and asks: "Do we really want the government to track our movement and driving habits on a regular basis?" "US Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) introduced H.R. 3311 earlier this year to appropriate $154,500,000 for research and study into the transition to a per-mile vehicle tax system... Oregon has successfully tested a Vehicle Miles Traveled fee... the [Oregon] report urged a mandate for all drivers to install GPS tracking devices that would report driving habits to roadside RFID scanning devices." Here is the bill (PDF). The article notes that the congressman's major corporate donors would likely benefit with contracts if such a program were begun.

citizens mull...

[Anonymous Coward]

ass fucking every member of congress with a flame thrower

Re:Ummmm

[rotide]

Entirely agree, and for the record I'm against using GPS for this purpose, but the government still has to pay for the Interstate system. Gas Tax, as far as I know, has helped fund it.

Re:Ummmm

[Anonymous Coward]

_YES_

Re:Ummmm

[Naturalis Philosopho]

Heck, just mandate that CarFax has to give the gov't a report on your car every year... they're one case where a private company is way better at spying on your car already than the federal government could ever hope to be.

Re:toposhaba

[nsayer]

Supposedly, in the study, you would only be taxed for driving in the state of Oregon

Oh, that's easy for a govmint agency to finesse: all miles are assumed to be within the state of Oregon unless you file form fmx99382c in triplicate with a complete log of your out-of-state miles, with itemized proofs, notarized.

There. Still no GPS needed.

Gas Tax Credits

[Ohrion]

Correct. I'm pretty sure any gasoline taxes you pay while this system is in effect will be applied as Gas Tax Credits. Provided you keep your receipts you will most likely be able to claim these when filing your taxes.

Re: hefty annual excise tax

[shmlco]

You want to help write the law to exempt commercial vehicles? Fine. Just make sure some real estate asshole can't loophole his way in by claiming his Hummer is for "business" use. (Which, incidentally, happened when the IRS allowed higher tax breaks on "heavy" vehicles used for business. Every Tom, Dick, and Dick suddenly saw a way to get a Hummer or F-350 for "free".)

Like it or not, what "everyone" does has an impact on everyone else. One person expressing their personal freedom and "individuallity" by driving an oversized truck or SUV is one thing. Multiply that by 100 million people, however, and we suddenly have a problem.

The fact of the matter is that you and I and everyone else pay more for gasoline and in city and highway maintenance fees for every one of those vehicles that's on the road. (Not to mention minor things like imbalanced trade deficits and polution and climate and losing our children in wars in the Middle East.)

Yes, we need blue-collar. But the rest also need to learn not to buy a super-truck just because they've got a small dick and a terrible self-image and need to overcompensate. "Yes, I'm a manly man, driving a manly truck... right down to the corner supermarket to pick up a loaf of bread."