States Mull Taxing Drivers By Mile

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Like I should buy a Hummer.

The hell with polution.

Are they crazy

------ Forwarded Message
From: "Matthew T. Blackmon" <segoy () firesermon com>
Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2005 13:07:21 -0600
To: <dave () farber net>
Subject: States Mull Taxing Drivers By Mile

For IP if you like...

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/14/eveningnews/main674120.shtml

----


(CBS) College student Jayson Just commutes an odometer-spinning 2,000 miles
a month. As CBS News Correspondent Sandra Hughes reports, his monthly gas
bill once topped his car payment.

"I was paying about $500 a month," says Just.

So Just bought a fuel efficient hybrid and said goodbye to his gas-guzzling
BMW.

And what kind of mileage does he get?

"The EPA estimate is 60 in the city, 51 on the highway," says Just.

And that saves him almost $300 a month in gas. It's great for Just but bad
for the roads he's driving on, because he also pays a lot less in gasoline
taxes which fund highway projects and road repairs. As more and more hybrids
hit the road, cash-strapped states are warning of rough roads ahead.

Officials in car-clogged California are so worried they may be considering a
replacement for the gas tax altogether, replacing it with something called
"tax by the mile."

Seeing tax dollars dwindling, neighboring Oregon has already started road
testing the idea.

"Drivers will get charged for how many miles they use the roads, and it's as
simple as that," says engineer David Kim.

Kim and his team at Oregon State University equipped a test car with a
global positioning device to keep track of its mileage. Eventually, every
car would need one.

"So, if you drive 10 miles you will pay a certain fee which will be, let's
say, one tenth of what someone pays if they drive 100 miles," says Kim.

The new tax would be charged each time you fill up. A computer inside the
gas pump would communicate with your car's odometer to calculate how much
you owe.

The system could also track how often you drive during rush hour and charge
higher fees to discourage peak use. That's an idea that could break the
bottleneck on California's freeways.

"We're getting a lot of interest from other states," says Jim Whitty of the
Oregon Department of Transportation. "They're watching what we're doing.

"Transportation officials across the country are concerned about what's
going to happen with the gas tax revenues."

Privacy advocates say it's more like big brother riding on your bumper, not
to mention a disincentive to buy fuel-efficient cars.

"It's not fair for people like me who have to commute, and we don't have any
choice but take the freeways," says Just. "We shouldn't have to be taxed."

But tax-by-mile advocates say it may be the only way to ensure that fuel
efficiency doesn't prevent smooth sailing down the road.

C MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.


------ End of Forwarded Message


-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org
To manage your subscription, go to
  http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/