Well it looks like we are going to eventually have to deal with it. The head of the DOT is seriously thinking about it, I know down here they were toying with it, but I'm pretty sure if he is behind it then eventually it will happen. Going to suck for me as I put on alot of mileage on my trucks. I heard that it'll take 10 yrs for it to be fully implemented nationally, but if you are in a state that was already thinking about it, then you might be in the crosshairs sooner rather then later of that 10 yr span. Just something for all y'all to chew on.

 

Yeah, I just saw where it got shot down on the national level. The trans. secretary had proposed it but Obama said no. How long that will last though, is anybody's guess. It really sucks for states to be able to pass that kind of legislation on their own too. They get Fed. highway money and gas tax. How many more taxes do they expect us to pay? I drive a lot also and think it's unfair. If they want to have more money for roads, etc., reduce the size of government. Cut back on the wasteful spending like the famous $400 toilet seats, etc. Government is out of control and is too big.

Each state should have two Congressmen and two senators. Each should be limited to two to four aides and have a bargain basement office to work out of. No frills, no luxuries. Just the basic necessities and nothing more.

Bring our boys and girls back from overseas. Let the Middle East settle their own problems. Stop trying to be the "world police" and stop losing our sodliers on a daily basis. Those people have fought each other for thousands of years and WE are giong to change it? I don't think so. I wonder how our leaders would feel if we were the ones being invaded by another country and told what to think and how to think it. I agreed with G.W. when it first started but it has gone on too long now and there is no end in sight.

I say bring them home. Man up our borders and coastlines. Start massive deportations on a daily basis. If they want to spend money, let them do it by protecting home. Get rid of the gangs, the Mexican drug runners and the Mexican Mafia that are infiltrating this country at an alarming rate. Build fences, walls, minefields, or whatever it takes to close down our borders. Put military personnel at every checkpoint. Eliminate the NAFTA agreement with Mexico but keep Canadian relations strong.

The list goes on and on. What it really boils down to is that Big Government is putting the hurt and grief on the little man, the working man to support a lot of B.S. This tax would just be another way for the state and Federal governments to collect more money to spend with no regard for the working public. Years ago, this was a government by the people and for the people. Now, it's a government by the politicians, for the politicians. There are truly very few that really care about their constituents or their thoughts. Politicians are appropriately called representatives only because they represent what they want, not what the voters want.

 

I didn't see where Obama shot it down. I'm surprised on that. I don't think it will last long though, particularly when you start thinking that they are trying to get OBD-III going and that will really make it easy for them to collect a mileage tax among other things. If they actually pass OBD-III with all the stuff that they know that they can put on it, then it's going to be a scary thing indeed. Hopefully, the aftermarket will be able to put some type of fooler stuff on that computer, because we sure will need it.

 

Maybe I'm missing something. We already pay a gas tax, isn't that like a mileage tax? If you drive more miles then you buy more gas and you pay more gas tax.

Somebody help me out, I realize I only have a Bachelors in Math, so I'm not very logical.

 

Not necessarily. The tax that we get is based on a gallon of fuel. I might get 15 miles to that gallon whereis your getting 20 miles to that gallon. Your paying less per mile then I am based on the gallon approach. Now if it's based on mileage then your not going to get taxed on gallons, just on mileage, whereis I'll get taxed for 15 miles to that gallon while you get taxed on 20 miles to that gallon. It actually takes the incentive out of getting fuel sippers versus guzzlers if it goes on by mileage.

Gallon approach punishes by how much fuel you get, however if you can get more miles out of a tank, you actually save money. Mileage approach, you get punished for the more miles you drive versus how much fuel you consume. They both attack mileage, but the punish different ends of the mileage spectrum.

While they both do attack mileage in some shape or form(any tax would do that), the mileage tax actually hurts those that have fuel sippers and/or those that drive long distances. You have more wiggle room of getting out of as much tax with a fuel sipper on the gallon approach, but you go to the mileage approach, there goes that environmental/economic incentive to get the sipper versus the guzzler.

 

You have to vote those Democrats and Liberals out of office, The biggest threat to this country is not the terrorist, its Obama, Nancy Peloise and Harry Reid.

 

Tex,

Here's the link I read about Obama rejecting the tax:

Mileage Tax Considered By Obama Transportation Secretary LaHood

 

I keep hoping they tax the pants off us. Then people will realize who not to vote for.

"Bring our boys and girls back from overseas" RIGHT ON, I agree and then let them free us from all these domestic enemys runing this country.

 

Preach on brother... I'm with 'ya!

 

Welcome to IFTA, boys and girls. The International Fuel Tax Agreement.

Truckers have had to deal with this for decades.

It sounds like a wonderful idea until someone actually gets around to actually fomenting an implementation scheme... then it falls apart. Trucking gets whacked with it because it's part of regulating interstate commerce, one of the few DELINEATED powers of the federal government. But trying to implement it on the general public runs too far afoul of the Fourth Amendment.

Oregon tried a pilot project on this in the last year or so. I haven't heard anything about it in a while, and so take that to mean that the project got shot down... Perhaps it's just not finished yet, but the amount of work necessary to make this work for the general public is mind-boggling. Oregon's approach, last I read, was to track the actual driving; the wheres, the whens, the how-longs... I can't imagine a system like this working in the real world -- The Fourth Amendment just wails in outrage.

About the only way I can see a mileage tax working in the general public would be to utilize the state's (in those that have them) annual safety inspections, and look at mileages. Texas already writes down the mileage on the sticker. Perhaps a dollar-per-thousand-mile kind of thing? That way they can tax the miles driven without knowing WHERE those miles were.

*shrug*

-blaine

 

Virginia also writes down the miles on the receipt for your state inspection. This already is and can get more and more complicated. If some of the states were to pass this, what would they do if part of your mileage was in a state that didn't have the mileage tax? If it were on the federal level, it wouldn't really matter but I wonder if Virginia for instance did this. I run about 10k to 12k a year and about half of that is out of state. How would they be able to tax me if say, half of those miles were in NC and they didn't have a mileage tax?

I think I'm with you Blaine. I don't see how they could make it work but it is the government and I'm sure where there's a will as strong as theirs, there is a way. The only other thing that I could think of would be if they started requiring the manufacturers to put a program in place in the vehicle computer that tracked mileage and then required owners to have it read at certain intervals. But even at that, you'd be talking about retro-fitting literally millions of vehicles.

I'm sure though, that before this thing could even get off the ground, there'd be a line of attorneys from the ACLU on the steps of the Capitol wringing their hands and it would be stopped in its tracks.

 

Just like Social Security, fuel and mileage taxes used to stay in the fund it was earmarked for. Then just like Social Security, those taxes went into the general (slush) fund.

Government can't stand to see those billions of dollars sitting, collecting interest, when there are so many pet projects to spend on to make themselves look good to the general public (at least in their eyes)

 

Perhaps an odometer that just logs mileage and when it gets a signal at the pump or where ever they decide to "read" the milage when they are done with it it sends a signal to reset the odometer and there you go. They know your mileage without in theory know where you have been.

 

I guess then the pump price could be adjusted for that mileage tax with the invent of computers, you just hook up a USB cable from where you put the gas in to the pump and then it calculates the price.

 

Doesn't even have to be usb, it can be bluetooth.