http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/10/21/oregon-plan-to-replace-gas-tax-with-milage-tax-raised-concerns-on-privacy-cost/
Oregon is moving ahead with a controversial plan to tax motorists based on the number of miles they drive as opposed to the amount of fuel they consume, raising myriad concerns about cost and privacy.
Does this move seem crazy to you? Or a correct way to proceed to gather additional tax revenue which is suffering from diminishing returns? Does it impinge on your right to move freely? Or do you see it in a more positive light, as saving the earth from environmental catastrophes and promoting public transport?
Oregon is moving ahead with a controversial plan to tax motorists based on the number of miles they drive as opposed to the amount of fuel they consume, raising myriad concerns about cost and privacy.
Does this move seem crazy to you? Or a correct way to proceed to gather additional tax revenue which is suffering from diminishing returns? Does it impinge on your right to move freely? Or do you see it in a more positive light, as saving the earth from environmental catastrophes and promoting public transport?
Hm.... Gas taxes seem more intuitive to me. You're promoting more fuel efficient cars and making people pay up front. With this policy, a mile is a mile - but that doesn't differentiate between vehicles. Plus how do you enforce this?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Tyler and Nick, you tax all vehicles the same and you lose the positive deterrent effect that the gas tax has. But it is clear that oregon is just looking for more money to fund the Highway Fund, maybe they could impose a tiered tax that costs more for less efficient vehicles. They could raise more Highway Funds while at the same time deterring the right thing.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all the above comments. If more technological options exist, it would make even more sense to tax amount of "harmful emissions" in case someone comes up with cleaner ways to burn fossil fuels but that's just a purely hypothetical argument that riffs on the idea presented that we should target the most direct cause of the problem.
ReplyDeleteThis tax is really the wrong way to go about saving the environment. Targeting certain types of vehicles will not work, that's just my view.
ReplyDeletei think it might be worth a shot. the pilot program will be a key determinant in assessing the success of the project i think
ReplyDeleteIt may lead to people living closer to their work places.
ReplyDeleteI agree 100% with Tyler not sure what the incentive is for the mile to mile....
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