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Congress Mulls Research Into a Vehicle Mileage Tax

Posted by kdawson on from the just-get-on-the-bike dept.

BJ_Covert_Action writes to let us know that an Oregon congressman has filed legislation to spend $154.5M for a research project into tracking per-vehicle mileage in the US, and asks: "Do we really want the government to track our movement and driving habits on a regular basis?" "US Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) introduced H.R. 3311 earlier this year to appropriate $154,500,000 for research and study into the transition to a per-mile vehicle tax system... Oregon has successfully tested a Vehicle Miles Traveled fee... the [Oregon] report urged a mandate for all drivers to install GPS tracking devices that would report driving habits to roadside RFID scanning devices." Here is the bill (PDF). The article notes that the congressman's major corporate donors would likely benefit with contracts if such a program were begun.

21 of 792 comments (clear)

  1. toposhaba by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Can't they just read an odometer

    1. Re:toposhaba by Adriax · · Score: 5, Insightful

      5 screws, spin a couple numbers back: "Yes sir, I only drove this car 7 miles in the past year. Yes this is my only registered car, and I live 8 miles away, why do you ask?"

      --
      I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!
    2. Re:toposhaba by Psyborgue · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Then prosecute that person for breaking the law. Such a major infringement on everybody's privacy is not necessary.

    3. Re:toposhaba by greywire · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And a GPS can't be removed and left at home? Slightly harder but come on. Anybody with the wherewithal to change the odometer can probably find out a way to remove the GPS or something too.

      Yeah, if all they really cared about was tracking mileage to tax us appropriately (which on the surface I dont think most people would mind) then they could come up with a harder to tamper with odometer that would probably be way cheaper than a GPS.

      But lets face it. If they force GPS on us, well, that's great news for GPS makers. And auto makers (markup, installs on older cars, etc). And insurance companies. And law enforcement. Hell its great for everybody, except the people driving the cars.

      --
      -- Senior Software Engineer, Attorney appearance services, locallawyerapp.com.
    4. Re:toposhaba by Obfuscant · · Score: 5, Insightful
      I am a cyclist, and I'm sure you hate how slow I ride my bicycle as you blow by me, passing illegally.

      It is not illegal to pass a bicyclist, no matter how slowly they are going. That's what bike lanes are for -- you get a lane, the car gets a lane, everyone should be happy. Except, apparently, you.

      Yet you get angry if I break a law?

      No, I get angry when you willfully and deliberately violate a simple, basic law that has no exceptions for how many wheels you are using (for n>0), claim that it's ok because other people break some other laws, and then claim the right to decide for yourself which traffic laws you should have to follow and which you don't need to.

      Yes, that's the argument here in this area now. Bicyclists want the right to decide if they NEED to stop at stop signs and to just blow through if they decide they don't need to stop. I'd love to get that kind of consideration as a car driver, but nobody in their right mind would ever think of passing a law that says stop signs don't mean "stop" for cars. And yet bikers expect it to be that way even when the law doesn't say it.

      And I bet you also hate how fast I drove my sports car and ride my motorcycle.

      I don't give a fuck how fast you drive your sports car or ride your bike, unless you are doing it on my street where children are playing and there is a 25 MPH speed limit, or you are doing 95 on the freeway and endangering everyone around you by swerving into other people's lanes and cutting them off. And as long as you accept the responsibility for the tickets you get for doing it and not whine at 200 dB about how you should have the right to break whatever laws you don't think should apply to you.

      Good thing you're smart enough to recognize that you're perfect and everybody else is an asshole.

      Not everybody, just you.

  2. Ummmm by homey+of+my+owney · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Isn't that what the Federal Gasoline tax does?

    1. Re:Ummmm by trigeek · · Score: 5, Insightful
      The general thought process is that as cars get better gas mileage, the revenues from the gas tax will decline.

      I personally don't see a problem with continuing to use the gas tax, but increasing it: It encourages people to drive more fuel efficient cars. I don't see this monitoring technology as being useful.

      --
      Sometimes I doubt your committment to SparkleMotion!
    2. Re:Ummmm by guyfawkes-11-5 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      But it also has the additional positive effect of pushing people towards electric and alternative fuels.

    3. Re:Ummmm by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Basically this is an early change over to a system that will work regardless of fuel source.

      Note that this is not being discussed as a replacement for gas taxes, but as a supplement to them. In other words, you'll get both taxes.

      Later on, when noone is using gasoline, they'll come up with a replacement for gas taxes. And the per mile tax will continue.

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    4. Re:Ummmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Not just a system regardless of fuel source but it's so much more. Imagine this:

      2009 15 09 15:37 - Startup
      2009 15 09 15:37 - $ 0.012 ID# 8984489618
      2009 15 09 15:37 - $ 90.00 Failure to yield to posted sign (lowest MPH = 1.7)
      2009 15 09 15:37 - $ 0.025 ID# 1898138518
      2009 15 09 15:38 - $ 1.50 Toll #6848681685
      2009 15 09 15:38 - $ 0.018 ID# 1868321896
      2009 15 09 15:38 - $120.00 Exceeding maximum speed limit, ID# 6588616816, Limit: 25 MPH, Current MPH : 26

    5. Re:Ummmm by clampolo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I have a better idea. Let's tax campaign contributions from auto makers, auto unions, and gasoline manufacturers at 50% and the proceeds will go to fund the roads.

    6. Re:Ummmm by InsaneProcessor · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Then read the odometer. It is already a crime to tamper with it. I don't want the government tracking my position. They have no business doing this. This idea is totally stupid on principle. Just add more cost to the vehicle too.

      Only government would be this stupid!

      --

      Athiesm is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby.
    7. Re:Ummmm by Artraze · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No.

      The Federal Gasoline tax does not "mandate for all drivers to install GPS tracking devices that would report driving habits to roadside RFID scanning devices". This tax proposal is little more than a way of netting some GPS companies gigabucks and getting GPS driving logs of every driver. Why else would they not JUST USE THE F**KING ODOMETER.

      P.S. If you think that law enforcement isn't salivating of the idea that the could subpoena a driver's entire history you are beyond naive.

  3. Miles * weight is what they want, so tax gasoline by noidentity · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why do number of miles driven matter? I'd think the central concern is wear on roads, which is also dependent on the weight of the vehicle. So they want to charge based on weight*miles. Guess what? A vehicle's gasoline usage is closely related to this; big heavy vehicle, more gasoline used per mile. So they could just increase the gasoline tax.

  4. Goodby privacy by merreborn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    the [Oregon] report urged a mandate for all drivers to install GPS tracking devices that would report driving habits to roadside RFID scanning devices.

    You want us to give The Man complete GPS records of all driving?

    Am I the only one who finds that terrifying?

  5. citizens mull... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ass fucking every member of congress with a flame thrower

  6. No GPS thanks by Hatta · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm not particularly opposed to an tax on my odometer, but GPS is way over the line. You want to know how much I drive? Fine. You want to know where I drive? Fuck off.

    Besides, the gasoline tax is already a mileage tax. It has the added bonus of being a bigger burden on those who drive low efficiency vehicles.

    --
    Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
  7. Re:RFID? KISS! by Temkin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    My family owns a couple miles of private dirt roads. You're going to tax me for driving on my own road?

  8. Sweet merciful crap! by jtownatpunk.net · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How the fuck can ANY study cost $154,500,000 That's one hundred and fifty four million, five hundred thousand dollars. I don't care WHAT they're proposing. A traffic STUDY with that kind of price tag should get a resounding and unanimous "FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKING FUCKS!" from anyone voting on it.

    I normally don't use so much profanity on slashdot but it's not like I can get any more obscene than what's being proposed.

  9. how about... by night_flyer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Insisting that the gov't spend the gas tax money they collect for roads, to pay to repair roads instead of funneling it off to pet projects that have nothing to do with roads.

    --


    Thanks to file sharing, I purchase more CDs
    Thanks to the RIAA, I buy them used...
  10. Government FRAUD? by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 5, Insightful

    MOD PARENT UP, not down.

    Fraud Alert: This is my best understanding. This is a new part of a very old effort. I remember protesting it many years ago.

    There is some company in Oregon that expects to sell the equipment that would track miles. Quote from the article: "Honeywell International, for example, is a major manufacturer RFID equipment. The company also happens to be the second biggest contributor in the current cycle to Blumenauer's Political Action Committee..."

    The mileage-tracking would download data remotely, using the same radio wave band used by wi-fi, or close. Every car would have the new equipment. A little aluminum foil over your car's antenna would stop the functioning of the system.

    Quote from the article referenced by Slashdot: "... the report urged a mandate for all drivers to install GPS tracking devices that would report driving habits to roadside Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) scanning devices." How long would it be until a hacker reported that his vehicle was in Canada? Maybe, "Oh, yes, yesterday I was driving in the Kamchatka peninsula, after a long trip around the moon."

    The biggest problem is that even the study would be extremely expensive for taxpayers ("... $154,500,000 for research and study into the transition to a per-mile vehicle tax system...") The second biggest problem is that buying the equipment would make Blumenauer's friends rich and taxpayers poor. The third problem is that it wouldn't work. There would be many, many failures in the equipment.

    If that is true, it is fraud, an attempt to profit by using government power to do something bad for everyone, and US Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) should be recalled as soon as possible, and barred from ever again participating in politics.

    Often the actions of the U.S. government seem shockingly corrupt.

    Someone would get the money, "$154,500,000 for research and study", even if no working system were produced.