I remember when this was being discussed a few years ago in Oregon. Apparently, it has already started as a pilot program there. Haven't heard much about it's success or not. I'm sure the pros & cons of this will be debated around how to tax, is it better than the gasoline tax, and the mass transit & go green fans will use it a something to rally around for arguing in favor of everyone getting & using mass transit in order to avoid being charged a driving tax & saving the environment at the same time.
However, beyond these issues, I myself have some privacy & personal freedom issues with this idea. On the privacy side of it, I really don't want to report to the gov't or have the gov't use some kind of remote control device tapping into my vehicle to determine the number of miles I've driven to determine my tax bill. What else would the gov't do with this mileage usage info? Would they give me a radius area where I'm allowed to drive only? Would they say you can only drive xxx miles a month & be charged xx tax rate? If you drive xxxx miles a month would you be charged a higher tax rate? Would they say someone driving an SUV can drive only xxx miles a month, while somone driving a compact car can drive xxxx miles a month?
These kinds of questions lead into my other concern about personal freedom. I see this idea, if imposed would be a restriction on my freedom of movement. The way I see it, I'm essentially being taxed when I move by car. In order to lower my tax bill, I'm only going to do essential driving such as my commute to work and extremely local shopping. I won't be able to do any driving for leisure purposes. I'm not talking the "let's go for a drive" leisure purposes, but driving for leisure activities. For example, I may want to meet a friend to shop at 12 Oaks. Right now, I have no problem doing that. However, if a driving tax is imposed, I'm more likely to shop by myself at Fairlane as it's signficantly closer to my house or even just shop online. I won't drive to the movies, but order something from Netflix. I won't drive to Belle Isle or Hines Park. I'll sit in my backyard instead. You get the idea. It's kind of restricting you from being able to travel about by car. Anybody else have other thoughts? Anybody else hear how it's going in Oregon?
http://money.cnn.com/2011/05/18/news...tm?iid=Popular
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