Personally, I don't care about 'tracking', since they can easily do so already.
With charge cards, ATM, cell phones with built in GPS (yup, it's there!), traffic and security cameras, etc, no one can hide these days.
How do you impliment it?
They going to attach a scanner to a Model T for it's once a month ride around town.
What about motor cycles? Golf carts? Scooters? Mopeds? Segues? (Gob from Arrested Development).
Will a hacker figure out how to get the meter to go in reverse and pocket a huge tax refund?
My vote for the dumbest idea of the year...especially considering the efficiency and effectiveness of the gas tax, which this will serve to replace.

 

Id say the most fool proof method of paying for roads is to replace income tax with vat tax and pay for the roads directly out of that vat tax as well as everything else we pay for currently. After all no matter what if your going somewhere your likely buying something or transporting something that will be sold.

 

You are correct. But, you (read "we") choose to have and use those things. It would be very possible to "live in the dark." There is also a big difference between knowing where someone has been 100% of the time verse popping in and out between ATMs, cameras, and so on. But yes, if they really want to find you, chances are they will eventually find you....(maybe).

 

Not sure, but I believe all cell phones made after (date?) contain a GPS tracking chip.
One can't stay off the grid...for too long.
Personally, I'm not too upset with that.
Look at how long it took to identify the 9/11 and London bus bombing terrorists.

 

You bet. Yes, all cell phones are required to have a GPS chip for (according to the government) 911 use. I guess some people have a problem with the fact that they can turn off a cell phone to smash it or whatever and then drive away so they will then be a little more "off the grid" where as with a mileage tracking system as suggested, they cannot just turn it off.

One other concern would be, as the driver, you might or might not have the ability to truly know if you are being charged the proper amount. Do any (or many) of us trust the government and technology to make sure we pay the proper amount.....of course it is next to impossible to track your income tax......so it probably doesn't matter.

It will be interesting to see what comes of this.

 

I thought I read that President Obama nixed the idea?

 

Yeah, and a fuel tax hike. We'll see if it holds. (Remember, I don't think anything stops States from doing it.)

Here are a few articles on MSNBC:

LaHood's talk of mileage tax nixed
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29298315/

States eye taxing miles driven, not gasoline
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28472161/

 

Yeah, here is a Bloomberg article.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...lWIOU&refer=us

Note that at the bottom it says the commission was started in 2005. That would have been during the Bush Administration, and before the Democrats took Congress in November 2006.

 

IMMHO there would be no problem using a non-linear scale for fuel taxing to adjust, in real-time, the price you pay at the pump according to the EPA efficiency rating of the vehicle.

Still interested in ZOOM-ZOOM, or 0-60MPH times....???

Then you could forget regulating the industry due to CAFE.

 

What is VAT?