Mileage Tax Considered By Obama Transportation Secretary LaHood

[Ladywriter 7,783]

Mileage Tax Considered By Obama Transportation Secretary LaHood

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 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.

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

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.

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?"

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.

totally not down with this crappy idea

too many people commute to work, they shouldn't be taxed or punished for it and yes it reeks of Orwellian intrusion

[Dubird 6,815]

wtf? I suppose it's a way to encourge the use and growth of public transportation, but still. I don't want to be taxed for going home to visit family for the holidays!

[Sledgstone 8,672]

This would be an outrageous bullshit tax. It would only force more people to live in more confined urban or apartment spaces to be closer to their jobs and it would be used as a way of watching the population at all times via gps or whatever else. If they want to save money for their road and highways budgets, then they should actually put all the current gas taxes accumulated by state, county and city levels towards the public roads instead of their general budgets. Or maybe they could also invest in new pavements that don't stretch/break/freeze and need repaving with every f*cking season.

[Ladywriter 7,783]

and get all states to do inspections

[Sledgstone 8,672]

They could even charge companies with fleets of vehicles or auto dealerships that have test drives everywhere, or put a new tax on big rigs with their multiple ton loads tearing thru the major highways and rural streets. Or the construction loaders or sand/gravel/concrete/garbage trucks with all their massive weight too.

[Dubird 6,815]

The only problem with more taxes on big rigs is that they are necessicary to modern life and so many drivers are independant and have to charge more because diesal fuel is so expensive now. So prices for shipping things will go up, which means businesses have to charge more for goods, and so on.

I would think installing and maintaining governemnt gps units in all vehicles would cost more than a minor tax on your milage would cost anyways. Sounds like a scheme to line someone's pocket.

[Crazy Gravy 100]

Avoiding politics, saw this on the news. Its such an invasion of privacy it makes Bush look lame.