Miles Driven Tax

djnelsontdi

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Minnesota
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With the increase of electric vehicles that pay no road tax at all, it may be a fairer way of ensuring everybody pays for the use of the roads. Eliminate the fuel tax and go to a miles driven tax. I'd rather pay no tax at all but, if I have to pay, we all should pay whether fuel or electric.
 

tdidieselbobny

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You know what would happen,don't you? They would go to the mile tax,then after a few years they would re-instate the "gas tax". Never enough money to support the government:rolleyes:.....
 

supton

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Central NH (USA)
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'04 Jetta Wagon GLS
This. They'll want both forms of taxes. Never enough money.

That said, if the miles driven per year tax took into GVWR, it would technically be fair. Drive a small car, pay less. Drive something that is hard on pavement, pay more. Of course there would be some base portion, since each vehicle takes up x space on the roadway, etc; but it'd be "fair". As it is, I'm 99% sure that when I have my state safety and emissions checks they log the milage -- they already know what I'm driving per year.
 

ymz

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they already know what I'm driving per year.
Possibly... but they don't know _where_ you're driving those miles... when you get older and wish to spend Winter in Florida or Arizona (or, as a local TDI-Club member does, in Mexico), a homestate-based mileage tax will be completely off the mark...

Yuri.
 

EJS

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Northern VA
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2009 Jetta
With fuel efficiency increasing and more hybrid and electric vehicles on the roads, LaTourette said the miles tax would be a fairer way of sharing the costs of using highways than the gasoline tax, which is based on the amount of fuel purchased.

:D
Only fair if they do it based on weight, a geometric progression - get the heavy vehicles to foot 95% of the bill, pay for the damage they inflict.
 

mohawk69

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Richmond Hill, GA (Savannah)
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The proponent that's being interviewed is the ...."chief executive officer of the Republican Main Street Partnership, a group of politically centrist Republicans"

Politically centrist. That means your parents would have recognized them as left wing wackos 40 years ago.

Seriously, who needs to let the government know even more of your business so they can tax us even more?
 

03_01_TDI

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Denmark
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Na
No tax method is ever "fair". Hybrids may get better mpg but they also weigh less and damage the roads less.
 

Got Bearings?

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May 5, 2007
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SoCal
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2001 Golf GLS
If you drive a car, I'll tax the street.
If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat.
If you get too cold I'll tax the heat,
If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet.
 

slamhouse

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Stanwood, WA
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2006 Jetta TDI SE
If this goes through as they currently propose, My 50mpg at 24.4c per gallon puts me at roughly .5c per mile in tax.

The proposal for 1.5c per mile would be a 200% raise in my road taxes.

I drive 130 miles a day or about 42k miles a year.

42,000 miles at .5c per mile is 210$ per year i currently pay in road tax.

42,000 miles at 1.5c per miles will put me at 630$ annually.

A 420$ raise in my annual road taxes....
 

jackbombay

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Diesel knows best
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Nuts. Next they'll be charging you for a plane ticket by how much you weigh. :D Oh, didn't someone just try that. :rolleyes:
Sign me up! I've been the same weight, plus or minus 4 pounds, since I was a sophomore in High school, and I'm 39 now.


The road tax per mile driven sounds good to me, as long as there is a multiplier for vehicle weight which several have mentioned in this thread.
 

T100TDI

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Des Moines, IA
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Considering the poor repair of many roads I wouldn't have huge problem with it. But I do most of my driving out of state so I think it'd be hard to do at anything other than the federal level. There would have to be a multiplier to account for vehicle weight. My car and motorcycle put hardly any wear on the roads compared to many other vehicles.
 

tdidieselbobny

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That's right,keep taxing and taxing the truckers. Where the hell does all the taxes they already pay go for?????? Then people wonder why products keep going up in price and smaller sizes. The cost gets passed down to everyone.....Let's keep putting the squeeze on the truckers.Remember-the only thing trucks don't deliver is babies;).....
 

slamhouse

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80k pounds rolling down the road on 18 tires puts substantial wear on the roads. whereas a small family sedan at 3500lbs is hardly noticed by the road. motorcylces shouldn't hardly be paying much road tax at all...
 

tdidieselbobny

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80k pounds rolling down the road on 18 tires puts substantial wear on the roads. whereas a small family sedan at 3500lbs is hardly noticed by the road. motorcylces shouldn't hardly be paying much road tax at all...
Like I said, truckers pay road and fuel taxes for each mile they travel-loaded and empty- in each state they are apportioned for. Not their problem if a state can't allocate the funds properly:rolleyes:......
 

BadMonKey

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Colorado
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That's right,keep taxing and taxing the truckers. Where the hell does all the taxes they already pay go for?????? Then people wonder why products keep going up in price and smaller sizes. The cost gets passed down to everyone.....Let's keep putting the squeeze on the truckers.Remember-the only thing trucks don't deliver is babies;).....

Let the prices go up! Consumers should know what crap actually costs to get it to them. A blanket with sleeves sure the hell costs a lot more than $19.95 to make in China and ship to Nebraska! Don't tell the Walmart shopper buying truck loads of china crap that everyone isn't paying for it in other ways as they stomp around and cry about taxes and fees.

It makes no damn sense for us to be trucking and flying crap across the US anyways. If it wasn't for hiding costs and passing the buck tucking companies wouldn't be as big as they are and our goods would be back on the rail where it belongs. Yes; trucks are still needed for delivery to store fronts but that would leave the problem in the States hands.
 

T100TDI

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I am all for charging trucks paying more and passing on the costs to the end users. And fuel taxes are also not a fixed percentage of the cost of fuel and are not reindexed to inflation. Seeing as how the federal tax rate per gallon of fuel has not changed since 1993 and cost of materials to fix the roads has not stayed stagnant, it's not a large surprise that roads are in disrepair. The wear and tear of a road is to the fourth power. Trucks do a huge amount of the wear and tear to a given road. (See http://www.pavementinteractive.org/article/equivalent-single-axle-load/)

Take a drive on I-35 north of Kansas City near the Missouri and Iowa border. The road is in terrible shape. I feel like I am on one of the car rides on tracks from all the ruts worn into the road. The road was repaved recently and is already worn down.
 

gulfcoastguy

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I am all for charging trucks paying more and passing on the costs to the end users. And fuel taxes are also not a fixed percentage of the cost of fuel and are not reindexed to inflation. Seeing as how the federal tax rate per gallon of fuel has not changed since 1993 and cost of materials to fix the roads has not stayed stagnant, it's not a large surprise that roads are in disrepair. The wear and tear of a road is to the fourth power. Trucks do a huge amount of the wear and tear to a given road. (See http://www.pavementinteractive.org/article/equivalent-single-axle-load/)

Take a drive on I-35 north of Kansas City near the Missouri and Iowa border. The road is in terrible shape. I feel like I am on one of the car rides on tracks from all the ruts worn into the road. The road was repaved recently and is already worn down.
Having been in the road construction business since the late 70's, I can tell you that you are correct. One problem is that it much easier to get funds for new roads that to patch potholes and repave existing roads. Repaving projects don't have ribbon cuttings for politicians to speak at. Most states, but not all, charge a fixed number of cents per gallon and the rate has generally not changed since the 80's or early 90's. A few states charge a percentage based sales tax but comparitively few. Some states also have toll roads but it is against regulations to put a toll on an allready paid for interstate if federal money was involved in it's construction.
 

bibendum

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va
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2009 jetta tdi
I think its a terrible idea, the cost to track, report and enforce more punishments, I mean taxes, would come close to the benefit. Instead i propose the government stop having to have their hand in the cookie jar. Stick to what they're good at, nothing. They're getting the energy taxes from those folks charging their electric cars at home. If electric cars are the real problem here, charge them a higher registration. Thing is, that's not what its really about.
 

Seatman

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Apr 23, 2010
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Scotland
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Sounds like your government is copying ours, tax you stupid in the end no matter what you do. Wait till electric cars become common, they'll charge a hell of a money just to use one. Diesel over here used to be like half the price of petrol till it became popular.
 
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