Tax per gallon, or per mile?

Why do that when a per gallon tax already does that. Prius and other efficient car owners pay less, guzzlers pay more.

We should increase the gas tax as per gallon revenues decline to cover the cost of roads. If we had to DOUBLE the gas tax to 36 or so cents per gallon I would be fine with that. It is far less then the amount of money that is being pulled out of this country and sent overseas.

 

I read through this thread and this is the only post that begins to bring up the real problem with this proposed tax. Like it's been stated already "we need another tax like we need a hole in the head", but the privacy issue is the real problem here.

 

If I understand this right some want the government to mandate that we buy expensive equipment to track us so they can tax us more fairly.

So lets add a department of bureaucrats to study it and track us some more. Or.... we can just raise the gas tax and eliminate the ethanol and exploration subsidies.

Having it go up with spikes exaggerates spikes and damage to the economy. Slowly raising it as a flat rate can go along with cafe standards and actually make the fleet more efficient. If it goes up with spikes do we spend the funds and increase spending then raise the tax again when the price of oil drops down? Seems counterproductive.

Every station needs to barcode read the cars and report. Why. So that we can make the SUV driver pay the same tax as the economy car driver? Doesn't the heavy vehicle do more damage to the roads and our environment.

no there are many problems.

 

There already is a way of collecting a mileage tax with little additional effort or pain.

But since I am opposed to this mileage tax, I will not put forward my concept.

 

I get why they would want to do this - eventually, if everyone is driving electric cars and buying zero gas, the gasoline tax revenue will become zero. This will increase as a percentage as more and more electric/high MPG cars appear on the roads.

So we eventually have 100% electric cars tearing up the roads and no money to pay for the roads.

But I think the real reason behind this is some company that makes this tracking hardware gave a bunch of money to some lobbyists and here we are.

Now that I have a Prius I obviously would rather taxes go by the gallon than the mile. It really comes down to what the government wants to do with the tax - penalize the least efficient cars or whoever drives the most pays the most. I think Ferraris and Lamborghinis get something like 11 or 12 MPG which is worse than some of the heaviest SUVs. Needless to say the bigger SUVs and trucks are a lot harder on the road than sports cars are.

 

Are you kidding me? I'm sick and tired of politicians wanting tax increases/new taxes. How about they get serious about spending cuts first, then we'll talk about taxes. Hey, everybody claiming they don't mind if their taxes are increased - why don't you return your hybrid/alternative tax credit?

Agreed. You do the right/responsible thing by purchasing a cleaner, more efficient vehicle and right away they want to punish you for it. Get real. The politico's forget - If you reward a behavior, good or bad, you'll get more of it. They should never have let the hybrid vehicle tax credit lapse. Same is true of punishing good/bad behavior.
Rant over.

 

I'm sick and tired of a voting public that keeps demanding spending cuts, then fires every politician who tries to implement cuts large enough to actually balance their budget on the existing tax structure.

My state's election last November is a prime example. The voters sent an unequivocal no-new-taxes message, yet re-elected those responsible for the current mess over a challenger with an actual past record of balancing budgets.

 

No, bloody serious here. I have no problem with gas tax in the USA as it stands now, the vast majority of it reaches the pavement and I think the roads need upgrades and repairs now and in the future. I do not want the roads subsidized by OTHER NON GAS TAXES, I want road users to PAY THEIR SHARE by making gas taxes match the amount needed in road repairs and improvements.

Per gallon gas taxes are among the fairest way of having people who actually use the roads pay for them.

 

Wow....
I didn't opine earlier because I thought that this thread was going to rapidly be exiled to FHOP...

There's no way that my beloved government...which is already struggling furiously to do more than it's capable of doing...will or even could start taxing people on a per-mile basis. Just the monitoring aspect of this folly would send fourth amendment rights weenies into low earth orbit. I've met people who won't even drive an On* equipped vehicle because they're terrified that folks will be peeking into their lives...It would almost be worth paying the tax just to watch the fun that monitoring driven miles would generate...
We already pay taxes for the roads. We already pay taxes for the cars. We already pay taxes for the gas. (see the pattern?)

Personally?
I'm not worried about it...cause it just isn't going to happen.

 

I'm not advocating this, but you don't need additional equipment to tax by the mile. All cars are already equipped with odometers. The per mile tax could be made part of the yearly license fee for all vehicles.

Tom

 

Quite true.
But you don't really think that my beloved government would actually use that simple an approach-----do you?

I still do not think that it's going to happen....much as I would love to see the fireworks of a serious attempt to try. Like I said before, we're already paying quite a hefty tax bill as it is. Sooner or later there will be that one last straw.....

 

qbee42 - Are you not aware that odometers are famous for their inaccuracy? So you would be paying hard earned bucks over and above what is due ... because the odometer reads too high. Plus .... Look how many do not pay their taxes now!!

I too, genuinely hope it will not happen .... can you imagine the nightmare trying to get every vehicle (new and used) euipped with the metering device? And, as I have said earlier, the poor would be exempt .... more complicated IRS rules. Farm vehicles would be exempt; and Canadians making their annual trip to the sunny south would not have the device ...........

No, I think tax at the pump (per gallon) is the easiest, surest and fairest method of collecting taxes. Every state can set and collect their own taxes. The problem is .... EV will not pay the tax. So off-set the loss revenue from gasoline tax by stopping the buyer incentives? It is a "round-robin grab-behind" by politicians any way you look at it.

 

BOTH BUT...
Set a reasonable Tax at the pump per the gallon. People do use gas for lawnmowers and some instances farm equipment.

Additionally, put the tax where it does best and is most fair - tax at the registration on miles driven by per MPG of vehicle in a tiered fashion.
It would be similar to the gas guzzler tax of the 70's but may be more fair.

Example;
vehicles getting 45mpg+ are at say $0.50 per 1,000 miles driven
vehicles getting 35-45 are at $1.00 per 1,000 miles driven
vehicles getting 25-35 are at $2.00 per 1,000 miles driven
vehicles getting 20-25 are at $3.00 per 1,000 miles driven
vehicles getting >20 mpg are at $4.00 per 1,000 miles driven

The worse the mpg the more you pay. It may be an incentive to buy more environmentally friendly vehicles - the $4 per gallon in 2008 didn't seem to slow the sales of huge gas gulping explorers, and such.
For those that think it is ok to drive a husky Hummer or F350 because "they can afford it", let them make up extra use (waste) of gas.
Maybe they won't sit in the drive through at McD's or wait in the parking lot running the engine for no reason.

Their waste drives up demand thus our price at the pump. So we do pay for their waste too.

 

i dislike this idea. it could seriously cost a lot of money that people would have to come up with at one time in order to get their plates rather than be paying it slowly over the year. i don't really want another $200-400 tacked on to my plates. i also don't think the government needs to be tracking our miles. that can lead to all kinds of stuff down the road (no pun intended). it won't be long until someone decides you're driving too many miles, and then you'll be rationed. it's not that far of a stretch.

 

I'm not advocating for it, but when we move away from gas taxes something will need to be done to pay for the roads.

As for the government tracking your miles, your driving privilege is already highly regulated. You wouldn't have to do it if you stay off of public roads.

For those of us that use vehicles for work, we already report mileage to the government. Otherwise you can't take the mileage deduction.

Addressing the comment about odometer accuracy, which would be easier: mandating accurate odometers, or adding another unrelated device that is actually an accurate odometer? Come to think of it, I believe odometer accuracy is already regulated.

Tom

 

What does that system get us over just taxing the gas? That is a lot of complexity, another separate tax to pay, more people to enforce it and oversee it. Just tax the gas at a higher rate and you have the problem solved.

 

Well, see this is where we differ I guess. I do not see it as a privilege. I know this debate has been had before somewhere, but when I pay for the car, the road, the plates, etc., I think it's a bit more than a privilege. It's a right, and they cannot just deny me that ability at a whim. That right can be taken away if it's abused, just like other rights can be taken away. But they can't make me pay for the road through taxes and then be condescending telling me it's a privilege to use it.

 

Totally agree with you, my friend! If the government does not find enough money on tax per gallon or per mile, it will convince its little "ants" that tax per fart is feasible, since fart contributes to global warming and everybody has to pay for it.

 

Okay. So taking your stand, how do you intend to pay for the roads when your cars no longer burn gas? I believe that is the essence of this thread.

Tom

 

They would probably need to come up with a "value" which is based on the number of miles driven and the weight of the car.

How many miles does a Prius or Fiesta have to drive to impact the road as much as a semi truck? Whatever that is, that's when they should pay the same amount.