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Draft Proposal Would Create Agency To Tax Cars By the Mile
theodp writes "The Hill reports that the Obama administration has floated a transportation authorization bill that would require the study and implementation of a plan to tax automobile drivers based on how many miles they drive. The plan is a part of the administration's 'Transportation Opportunities Act,' and calls for spending $200 million to implement a new Surface Transportation Revenue Alternatives Office tasked with creating a 'study framework that defines the functionality of a mileage-based user fee system and other systems.' The office would be required to consider four factors — the capability of states to enforce payment, the reliability of technology, administrative costs, and 'user acceptance' — in field trials slated to begin within four years at unspecified sites. Forbes suggests the so-called vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax should be called the Rube Goldberg Gas Tax, because while its objective is the same as the gas tax, the way it collects revenue is extremely complex, costly and cumbersome." The disclaimers are thick on the ground, though; note, this is an "early draft," not pending legislation.
Just have drivers self report it and make it one of the things that gets verified in the event of an audit. Make the fines and fees exactly the same as if the person had cheated on their taxes some other way. If a car is sold, have a way for the buyer and seller to, independently of each other, submit the mileage at the time of sale and if there's a significant discrepancy have the new owner take it down to the DMV within 30 days to have someone there record it.
Honestly, I don't have any problem with a per mile tax but I have a huge, huge issue with any kind of device being placed on my car. Not only is it an incredibly invasive invasion of privacy, it's also way more expensive and complex than any taxing method should be.
The fuel tax already covers that nicely. Truckers are using the most expensive fuel. According to the US Department of Energy, both gasoline and diesel are taxed at 12% average. The average cost of regular gasoline is $3.56/gal. The average cost of diesel is $3.91/gal.
According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (in 2008 numbers), the average passenger car gets 22.6mpg, and the average other 2 and 4 wheel vehicle (motorcycles, passenger trucks and SUVs) get 18.1mpg. That's average, everyone will claim "mine gets [higher|lower]".
A tractor/trailer rig gets 10mpg unloaded, or about 5 to 7mpg fully loaded. so, on a hypothetically average trip of exactly 1,000 miles, and equally average driving conditions for all involved...
Avg passenger car: Fuel: 45 gallons. Cost: $160.20 Tax: $19.22
Avg tractor/trailer Fuel: 167 gallons. Cost: $652.97 Tax: $78.36
And lets address his complaint of "In fact the (highway) road damage of one 18-wheeler is equivalent to at least 9600 cars", lets consider what the car to truck ratio is...
Again, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, in 2000 (the last year this report shows any numbers), there were 133,621,420 passenger cars, 4,346,068 motorcycles, 79,084,979 passenger trucks and SUV's, and 5,926,030 other 2 axle vehicles.
So, 222,978,497 2 axle vehicles, and 2,096,619 truck/trailer combination. So 106 cars for every truck on the road. Consider that those heavy trucks spend far more miles on common routes, (i.e., interstates, state highways, etc) than on the sprawling local roads and community streets. You'll see that it doesn't matter much that they do 9600:1 damage to the highway, they are likely only driving on a very very small percentage of the overall roadways. They only have to repave an interstate once and it's repaired, so the cumulative effect does not equal a 9600:1 burden on the overall paved streets across the country.
Consider your own neighborhood. How many cars drive past your house for every heavy truck. The number probably becomes tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands to one truck.
But don't let factual statistics get in the way of cherry picking numbers to scream about the awful blight of the heavy truck. :)
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.