Bonneville America Forums Forums Rider Safety Forums Legislation Fuel/Mileage Tax

Saw this in the news:

"The National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission says the current 18.4 cents a gallon gas tax and 24.4 cents a gallon diesel tax are not raising enough money to keep pace with the cost of highway, bridge and transit projects. The commission proposes lifting the gasoline tax by 10 cents per gallon and the diesel tax by 15 cents per gallon, and adjusting both for inflation.

The report also says fuel taxes increasingly will become a less reliable way to pay for highway construction as people drive more fuel efficient vehicles and the number of electric and alternative fuel cars and trucks grows.

Last fall, Congress transferred $8 billion from the general treasury to the highway trust fund to make up for a shortfall between revenue and money promised to states for highway projects. Last week, LaHood said in an interview with The Associated Press that a vehicle-miles-traveled tax was an idea that should be considered to shore up the trust fund.

The report recommends moving to such a tax, which would mean equipping cars and trucks with a device that uses GPS technology to track the number of miles driven and compute the tax owed. The amount could be adjusted to charge more for travel during peak traffic hours.

Commission members said the transition to a national system would take about 10 years."

Welcome to the Orwellian world.....Just wonder what they will do for motorcycles?

Tom

I don't quite understand their logic. By paying the fuel taxes at the pump, we are pre-paying the tax prior to usage, as opposed to pay as you go via GPS. You'd think that would hamstring their cash flow. Then there's Canada & Mexico base plated vehicle traffic. Sounds like yet another stroke of brilliance from the same folks who thought that everyone should own a house they can't afford, and so sent the world economy on a bowl circling spiral.

It sounds to me like yet another pork project that would cost billions to create, billions to maintain, then let's not forget the trillions in retirement and health insurance for life for the GPS tax department folks. As we know, the more it costs, the higher the skim & palm grease yield.

For what it's worth, I don't see the GPS fuel tax issue ever working out. Every state would need to get on board with a compatible data system. An example of why that may not fly -- In the late 80s, the feds decided to take a crack at maintaining one driver's license for every truck driver, known as the CDL. A nationwide data exchange system would prohibit drivers from shopping for licenses in other state, a move that often wiped away old moving violations in the process. Over 20 years later, all the 50 states & AAMVA have still not come to an agreement on one compatible data system. On the other hand, just because a program is destined for non-functionality from day one doesn't mean 'they' won't do it anyway...

For the past few years there has been a lot of press regarding more fuel taxes are going to be required soon to shore up the crumbling transportation & highway infrastructure. Unfortunately, the trillions in fuel taxes we already paid over the years has been looted by the feds & state "general funds" and so now there's nothing left. Same as it ever was...

Bwahahahaha we pay a stealth tax of 17.5% on the gallon rougly about 68 pence a gallon so say roughly a dollar tax per gallon. This is on top of an average road tax of £120.00 or $175-00 dollars a year. Now the Road tax is supposed to maintain the raod network and infastructure Overall, there are 32,897,000 vehicles registered for use on UK roads including cars, vans, taxis, buses and trucks.

So an approximate income of £35 million in road tax suplemented by a further 68 pence a gallon....

Guys honest to god think yourselves lucky you dont have our wonderful fiscal geniuses running your country.....

Any attempt to tally miles driven via GPS or other, will only encourage more ways to try and cheat the system. Unhooking odometers, disabling tracking devices, computer hacking, whatever. And then there is the issue of vehicle age, how old does it have to be before it is exempt from tracking?

The answer to our fiscal woes?

Invest in Doritos