Oregon may implement mileage tax

[AmpedNow]

http://www.dhonline.com/articles/2008/1 ... 2_road.txt

Kulongoski to pursue mileage tax
By Hasso Hering
Albany Democrat-Herald
A year ago, the Oregon Department of Transportation announced it had demonstrated that a new way to pay for roads — via a mileage tax and satellite technology — could work.

Now Gov. Ted Kulongoski says he’d like the legislature to take the next step.

As part of a transportation-related bill he has filed for the 2009 legislative session, the governor says he plans to recommend “a path to transition away from the gas tax as the central funding source for transportation.”

What that means is explained on the governor’s website:

“As Oregonians drive less and demand more fuel-efficient vehicles, it is increasingly important that the state find a new way, other than the gas tax, to finance our transportation system.”

According to the policies he has outlined online, Kulongoski proposes to continue the work of the special task force that came up with and tested the idea of a mileage tax to replace the gas tax.

The governor wants the task force “to partner with auto manufacturers to refine technology that would enable Oregonians to pay for the transportation system based on how many miles they drive.”

The online outline adds: “The governor is committed to ensuring that rural Oregon is not adversely affected and that privacy concerns are addressed.”

When the task force’s study and test were in the news in 2006 and 2007, critics worried that the technology could be used to track where vehicles go, not just how far they travel, and that this information would somehow be stored by the government.

In more than one interview with the Democrat-Herald and others, James Whitty, the ODOT official in charge of the project, tried to assure the public that tracking people’s travels was not in the plans.

With other states eyeing this, it's a matter of time before it's everywhere...

I have a better idea: instead of mandating GPS devices in all registered vehicles in a state, why not just report yearly odometer mileage?

Also, how will this affect interstate travel? Will every state we travel through send us a tax bill every year if our vehicle was "spotted" passing through for x amount of miles?

Small businesses with delivery vehicles will be adversely affected as well.

Never mind the creepy Big Brother aspect of this...

[cgarison]

I am not sweating this in the near term.

Plus if Oregon needs money, the why don't they put in place a sales and use tax like the majority of other states.

[lastone]

.... why not just report yearly odometer mileage?

We already do. It's logged on the inspection station's state log....which is filed with the state.
If WV wants to know how many miles I've dirven, they just have to check my inspection sticker record.

The International Personal Air Tax (IPAT) You breathe, you pay!
Laugh, but it's closed than you think!

[AmpedNow]

Actually, I thought about this while traveling to VA for New Years: odometer readings would still not be perfect measure for many, because how can you account for interstate mileage? It wouldn't be fair to tax residents for mileage not driven in their home state. Probably 20% of my yearly mileage is driven outside of WV.

As far as that goes, if all vehicles are equipped with GPS (and they will be soon, just like standard radios), then every state you travel through would know that you were there, and how many miles you drove on their roads. Would we receive tax bills from them as well?

Worst-case scenario: the entire interstate system becomes an interlaced string of toll roads.

[fearpeddler]

how about the millions of dollars they seize every year from their ever growing heroin epidemic? what has all that seized cash been used for?

[CoolBreeze]

This was brought up about 4 years ago in the news. We discussed it on my show. Now, they're bringing it up again. Four years from now they'll bring it up again.