System (in Oregon) would tax drivers by mileage

[question everything]

Devices charge fees based on road use

By Sarah Linn
ASSOCIATED PRESS

May 23, 2004

(snip)

Engineers at Oregon State University are working on a pair of devices that measure the number of miles driven between pit stops, then factor in a mileage-based fee at the gas station. State and federal officials hope that the system, which combines wireless Global Positioning System and odometer technology with shortwave radios, will transform how states tax road use.

(snip)

As gas prices rise, many consumers are turning to more fuel-efficient cars and gas-electric hybrids to cut costs. That means states are losing valuable road revenue, said James Whitty, a manager at the Oregon Department of Transportation.

A mileage-based tax would ensure that those drivers pay for road maintenance, he said, ultimately replacing the fuel tax. Oregon's fuel tax provides 68 percent of the revenue of the state highway fund, which pays for road maintenance and construction, Whitty said.

The first device, located on the vehicle, monitors how many miles the driver travels before refueling. One version acts like an odometer. The other version relies on GPS satellites to pinpoint the vehicle's location within a certain zone – whether it's downtown or on the highway. At the gas station, the vehicle's device sends a shortwave radio transmission to a device on the pump. The device tallies the per-mile tax and adds it to the price of gas, replacing a fuel tax.

(snip)

There are provisions to vary the rate based on the location or the time of day, such as evening rush hour on crowded roadways, said David Porter, the other Oregon State professor heading the project... California and Washington have expressed interest in the program, Cox said. And officials from 15 states recently met at the University of Minnesota to discuss the research.

(snip)


Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040523/news_1n23mileage.html

[Andy_Stephenson]

Hmmmmmm

interesting.

[Soup Bean]

1. Bleaaghhhh.

More death of privacy.

[punpirate]

2. Bad, bad idea....

Oregon's engineers are kind of stupid, if they believe that mileage is the primary cause of road degradation.

Virtually every state has established that vehicle weight is the primary cause of road damage. A 100,000-pound vehicle does far more damage per mile than a 2,000 lb. compact car.

As well, this plan penalizes those who drive considerable distances for work, regardless of the gas mileage of their vehicle or their economic circumstances. It also would demand, to be equitable, the retrofit of expensive equipment to all cars registered in the state, and makes no allowance for visiting vehicles from other states (Oregon could not force visiting vehicles registered in other states to implement the scheme in order to pass into or through Oregon).

This is just a way of shifting road use taxes to the people least able to afford them away from those vehicles such as 18-wheelers which operate for profit and produce the greatest road wear.

Just plain dumb. I hope someone in the Oregon legislature points out, in the details, the idiocy of this plan. Everyone who has to drive lots of miles per year and buys a fuel-efficient vehicle to do so would be unfairly penalized, and for a reason which is, in engineering terms, patently unsound. Vehicle weight is the determining factor in road wear and tear, not mileage.

Moreover, road wear has nothing to do with peak-use hours, so why are penalties for peak use part of the plan? This sounds like a backassed way of attempting to minimize traffic density rather than decrease road wear, something better addressed by adequately funding decent public mass transit.

[patrick g]

3. here's my .02

the system is simply too unfair for the poor who may unfortunately be bound to their vehicle and have to use it to make their way to work . . ..