ddestruel

#1 Today, 10:39 AM
dusty
Grease Monkey
Join Date: Jul 20, 2006
Location: Left Coast, Right wing. Nor Cal
Posts: 454

soon to come mandatory GPS devices for tax purposes on all vehicles. so long freedom

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Here it comes. required GPS devices on all vehicles for tax tracking purposes. so much for land of the Free.


:mad3:This will infuriate anyone who believes that the US is about freedom. Guess all those who bought fuel efficient vehicles are going to loose some of their advantage. Maybe the CBS newscaster was right there will be a modern day version of a tea party. Too many taxes poor representation and now they want to track your vehicle

We'll use the FCC to control what you listen to ont he radio and then we'll use the highway tax as an excuse to know where and how much you travel. Hmm what next GPS devices that record when you break the speed limit even in a reasonable situation like passing.


Too many taxes poor representation and now they want to track your vehicle



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29298315



Transportation chief eyes taxing miles driven
LaHood says current gasoline tax not enough to fund infrastructure

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says administration needs to think "outside the box on how we fund our infrastructure in America."

Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP



updated 4:50 a.m. PT, Fri., Feb. 20, 2009
WASHINGTON - Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says he wants to consider taxing motorists based on how many miles they drive rather than how much gasoline they burn — an idea that has angered drivers in some states where it has been proposed.
Gasoline taxes that for nearly half a century have paid for the federal share of highway and bridge construction can no longer be counted on to raise enough money to keep the nation's transportation system moving, LaHood said in an interview with The Associated Press.
"We should look at the vehicular miles program where people are actually clocked on the number of miles that they traveled," the former Illinois Republican lawmaker said.
Story continues below ↓


Most transportation experts see a vehicle miles traveled tax as a long-term solution, but Congress is being urged to move in that direction now by funding pilot projects.
The idea also is gaining ground in several states. Governors in Idaho and Rhode Island are talking about such programs, and a North Carolina panel suggested in December the state start charging motorists a quarter-cent for every mile as a substitute for the gas tax.
A tentative plan in Massachusetts to use GPS chips in vehicles to charge motorists by the mile has drawn complaints from drivers who say it's an Orwellian intrusion by government into the lives of citizens. Other motorists say it eliminates an incentive to drive more fuel-efficient cars since gas guzzlers will be taxed at the same rate as fuel sippers.

Thinking outside the box
Besides a VMT tax, more tolls for highways and bridges and more government partnerships with business to finance transportation projects are other funding options, LaHood, one of two Republicans in President Barack Obama's Cabinet, said in the interview Thursday.
"What I see this administration doing is this — thinking outside the box on how we fund our infrastructure in America," he said.
LaHood said he firmly opposes raising the federal gasoline tax in the current recession.
The program that funds the federal share of highway projects is part of a surface transportation law that expires Sept. 30. Last fall, Congress made an emergency infusion of $8 billion to make up for a shortfall between gas tax revenues and the amount of money promised to states for their projects. The gap between money raised by the gas tax and the cost of maintaining the nation's highway system and expanding it to accommodate population growth is forecast to continue to widen.
Among the reasons for the gap is a switch to more fuel-efficient cars and a decrease in driving that many transportation experts believe is related to the economic downturn. Electric cars and alternative-fuel vehicles that don't use gasoline are expected to start penetrating the market in greater numbers.
"One of the things I think everyone agrees with around reauthorization of the highway bill is that the highway trust fund is an antiquated system for funding our highways," LaHood said. "It did work to build the interstate system and it was very effective, there's no question about that. But the big question now is, We're into the 21st century and how are we going to take care of our infrastructure needs ... with a highway trust fund that had to be plused up by $8 billion by Congress last year?"
Vote and discuss

What do you think about taxing miles driven?

Report expected next week
A blue-ribbon national transportation commission is expected to release a report next week recommending a VMT.
The system would require all cars and trucks be equipped with global satellite positioning technology, a transponder, a clock and other equipment to record how many miles a vehicle was driven, whether it was driven on highways or secondary roads, and even whether it was driven during peak traffic periods or off-peak hours.
The device would tally how much tax motorists owed depending upon their road use. Motorists would pay the amount owed when it was downloaded, probably at gas stations at first, but an alternative eventually would be needed.
Rob Atkinson, president of the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission, the agency that is developing future transportation funding options, said moving to a national VMT would take about a decade.
Privacy concerns are based more on perception than any actual risk, Atkinson said. The satellite information would be beamed one way to the car and driving information would be contained within the device on the car, with the amount of the tax due the only information that's downloaded, he said.
The devices also could be programmed to charge higher rates to vehicles that are heavier, like trucks that put more stress on roadways, Atkinson said.

steelblitzkrieg

If they would stop dipping into the gas taxes then there would be enough to cover infrastructure.

ImpulseHydro

I wonder if a sheet of thin lead over the recr would block the signal defeating the the device....
Doug..

Loading up ammo..

Raspy

It's already in On Star, it's already in your cell phone.

But it would make me seriously re-consider buying a new car that I found out had it, unless I could find a way to defeat it.

What makes you think this country is about freedom? Isn't it about money or power? Can you name anyone, besides yourself, that is working to enhance your freedom?

rich

cold day in hell before i do it. good thing i speak spanish mexico sure is starting to look better and better

whitebuffalo

its already been shot down.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/firs...-miles-driven/

Timmay2

Quarter of a penny per mile.

Comes out to 400 miles for $1.

Average driving 12,000 miles a year = $30.


Not a darn thing wrong with that tax, and it levels the field so that those who drive more in fuel effecient vehicles help pay for the roads too.

If they REPLACE the fuel tax with this tax, it actually costs consumers LESS in the short run.

ddestruel

problem in my eyes isnt how they introduce it, or present it nor how much less it will cost me...... it is how they will be able to track me or track anyone else. i don't like the idea of big brother in a black box. part of the apeal of america is we are free to travel.

if they charge you a .0025 per mile today whats to stop them from implimenting a sliding scale like they have on income tax anything over 5000 miles gets charged .01 per mile and then anything over 10k miles is now .10 mile..... or whats to stop them once they have it from increasing it. half if not all these guys live in the city some of us are 50 miles from town.... the slippery slope that that kind of big brother oversight creates is dangerous i can not support it.

Next thing you know the LEO will be able to track you and the nixt time you tick up the throttle past the posted 65 mph you'll get an automatic ticket in the mail even if you were only doing it to pass someone.

let them restructure the fuel tax to be a percentage of the purchased fuel but tracking me and chargine me even when i am driving around on our ranch is a BIG RED FLAG in my book

one can use the British gun control model as a way of understanding how quickly things progressed from we'll just register the guns to we'll only take away the dangerous guns to no guns allowed. maybe one day somone higher up will decide that you should only be allowed to drive 5000 miles instead of the 12k you currently, even ifthe 12k is necessary they can just arbitrarily tell you that you emissions are too high and that 5000 is your limit for that year and they will gladly track it for you.



Consumption tax is acceptable in my book if the funds are actually going to support just what the tax is for. fuel tax for highway fiunds.... But a tracking system is not.

82NDSNPR

its amazing how much the goverment wants to get our lifes. people forget this country was started because of taxes and tax with no rep. well i dont think or feel i am represented anywhere in the goverment they need to purge the entire system and in my view do a lottery or draft for congressmen and senite chairs give the goverment back to the people not the 1% and the big corp. who have the money to buy the goverment. in doing this draft imposse a 2 term limit and then do another draft from middle america for the next guy or gal to take a seat.

Timmay2

I can agree that tracking you to get the miles is wrong. It would be nice if it was self imposed with an emissions/inspection odometer verification when due or when the car is licensed yearly.

If people want to go through the effort of odometer rollbacks to avoid paying $30 a year, then they are just silly.

rustbucket

If they would stop at that, it wouldn't be so bad but we all know, that it would be just the begining.It will soon be, how fast we are driving, where to, and how often. I am afraid, there is a revolt comeing, and it's not to far off. The idiots in washington, are runing this great country into the ground, and it will take the action, of the people to stop it.

rich

if they want to tax for miles or weight then they can do it like they do my semis we pay a heavy road use tax on top of fuel taxes and liscence. they ought to apply that to the fuel efficent cars to get more tax money

Danderson

We don't need this. If you drive more miles,you buy more fuel/gas,thus pay more taxes.

dodgeguy71

Lets see, 1/4 cent, I can deduct something like .52 cents per mile for my business, so I still make out........

rebal

lets see 40,000 miles a year = 100 and thats just the start !you know darn well it will only go up, then they will put the tax per gal. back on ! .once a tax is imposed it never goes away they always find a way to keep it! the time for a revolution is at hand!!