Taxing every mile you drive

[Racket_Man]

this particular govenmental money making proposial has been floating around for a few years now.

http://autos.aol.com/article/tax-per..._lnk3%7C214788

basically instead of taxing a gallon of gas the idea is to tax every mile you drive. this has mostly come about with a greater percentage of higher mileage cars, hybrids and electric vehicles on the road today. this is esp true of hybrids and electric cars as they either use way less gas or no gas at all.

now this is all well and good as the gas tax is used to fund all kinds of road projects (on the state level and the federal Gov Taxes such things as tires) and such BUT.......

what about those of us who, because of the nature of our jobs, drive a LOT of miles cause others do not want to. I am speaking of food delivery drivers.

as it stands now the food delivery industry way under-compensates its delivery drivers, almost literally makes the customer pay for the driver's vehicle upkeep, maintenance, repairs and insurance. the companies refuse (for the most part) to compensate their drivers adequately for the "use" of their vehicles.

I barely get gas money these days and have to pay out of my own pocket all of the other expences associated with a vehicle. does this mean I will have to expend even MORE of my own money in the future cause I can not afford a more "modern" car such as a hybrid?????

now I get crapped on by the company, the (growing number of ) stiffing customers, AND (maybe in fthe near future) the goverment?????

[telecom_goddess]

wow I don't think that's a good idea at all. Just keep the gas tax there will still be plenty of gas guzzling cars out on the road to make plenty of revenue.

[HYHYBT]

I'd rather, if taxes must go up at all, they just raise the existing gas tax. Even though that would affect me more. At least it encourages fuel-efficient cars.

Of course, at tax *only* on hybrids and electrics would do the opposite... but taxes on the few are a lot easier politically.

(as for some of the comments over there... if a higher gas tax means you don't cut your grass as often, what's so horrible about that? You LIKE cutting grass?)

[Andara Bledin]

They already tax drivers through gas as well as through registration.

If they're really hurting due to cars that use less gas, they just need to adjust registration fees - none of this per mile shit that would probably cost more to administrate than it would bring in.

^-.-^

[McDreidel09]

That is so dumb and would really suck for me. I go to school about 90 miles from home. So if I go home for a weekend, that's about 180 miles in one weekend. I don't make money right now, since I have no job (hopefully that changes tomorrow). What the crap?

Also, parents who are taking their teens out to drive would be taxed. This would have an effect on how much practice these teens actually get. In my home state, you have to drive 50 hours (10 of those at night) in order to get your DL.

Is having to pay for maintenance, insurance, gas, registration, those little license plate stickers that you have to renew every year (It's $90 where I live), fluids, etc not enough?

And before anyone tells me to just take a bus, I can't ,considering that there is no bus system in my hometown or in my college town.

[kiwi]

They already do this in NZ for diesel vehicles. You have to pre buy your road miles or face a huge fine.

[Racket_Man]

And before anyone tells me to just take a bus, I can't ,considering that there is no bus system in my hometown or in my college town.

on that note alone I would love to see people trying to delivery [pizza via a bus line.

"And your delivery time will be 3 hours as the busses only run one every 90 minutes."

"Oh I am sorry but we stop delvering at 9pm becasue that is when the busses stop running."

heck I average around 80 miles per shift right now but can go as high as 130 miles. that is quite a chunk of change just for my job.

[Boozy]

Is having to pay for maintenance, insurance, gas, registration, those little license plate stickers that you have to renew every year (It's $90 where I live), fluids, etc not enough?

I think you're missing the part where you wouldn't pay gas taxes.

The idea is to tax mileage instead of gas. That's all. It doesn't necessarily mean you'd end up paying more for what you drive.

[mikoyan29]

Of all of the stupid ideas that have come out of Washington, this has got to take the cake. If they eliminate gas tax and go to a flat mileage rate, they are going to take away one of the encouragements for getting a more fuel efficient vehicle. Not to mention that this would be a nightmare to track, unless they put some sort of meter in your car. It just seems like a system that would be rife with problems.

[protege]

Considering that the US has a crapload of vehicles, there's no way that the idiots in Washington are going to be able to account for them all. Some states, like Pennsylvania, make you indicate the current mileage when you renew your registration. I suppose this is intended to help thwart odometer fraud. But, since it's on the honor system (and from what I understand...rarely checked), it would be easy to get around--simply by low-balling the mileage. Another way, would be to get an older vehicle, and put Classic or Antique plates on it. Sure, you get hit with a mileage restriction (3,500 and 1,500 respectively), but this is *never* checked--these plates don't expire! There's no way to keep track of the mileage. With that said, what's to stop me from trading in my current vehicle, and getting several classics? An old Land Rover for winter use, the MG for summer, etc?

[HYHYBT]

Having to maintain and insure them all?

I haven't seen anywhere that said they would remove the gas tax; it looks much more like this would be *in addition* to it.

[FArchivist]

Considering that the US has a crapload of vehicles, there's no way that the idiots in Washington are going to be able to account for them all. Some states, like Pennsylvania, make you indicate the current mileage when you renew your registration. I suppose this is intended to help thwart odometer fraud. But, since it's on the honor system (and from what I understand...rarely checked), it would be easy to get around--simply by low-balling the mileage.

And here's how they'll do it: New car purchases starting in June will have a mandatory black box installed

Combine this with the current pushes to ban all gasoline-only cars in the USA by 2020, I think they'll be able to implement it with no problem.

[Racket_Man]

I think you're missing the part where you wouldn't pay gas taxes.

The idea is to tax mileage instead of gas. That's all. It doesn't necessarily mean you'd end up paying more for what you drive.

I think from the article the gas taxes would be cut, BUT again as someone who drive a LOT for their job, that means my company compensation would be cut (seeing as the price of a gallon of gas would go down) but I STILL would have to pay that per mile "tax" out of my own pocket. you think that a business that today under-compensates it drivers would pony up the extra money to "help" pay a per mile tax. NOT HGAPPENING. the only way that would happen would be IF the company DID pay their drivers on a per mile basis (this will never happen again).

in this case the IRS would have to revise their "suggested" per mile cost for operating a vehicle in the US esp as more cars go hybrid or electric

but then again I can not afford a USED hybrid or electric car either nor will I for the forseeable future.

[Boozy]

I think from the article the gas taxes would be cut, BUT again as someone who drive a LOT for their job, that means my company compensation would be cut (seeing as the price of a gallon of gas would go down) but I STILL would have to pay that per mile "tax" out of my own pocket. you think that a business that today under-compensates it drivers would pony up the extra money to "help" pay a per mile tax. NOT HGAPPENING.

Well, your company is free to do as it likes, but if the mileage tax is truly crippling for its drivers, their drivers will quit. Then they will have the choice of paying up or not having any drivers.

[protege]

Having to maintain and insure them all?

Actually, classic car insurance isn't too bad. Insuring my MG for a year...is only slightly more than insuring my Corolla for a month But, if this massive invasion of privacy goes through...I've bought my very last new car. This is nothing more than a money grab for our bloated government. This is *not* about safety, but about money.