On 1/11/2013 11:12 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On Fri, 11 Jan 2013 12:43:19 -0800, Oren wrote:



I agree with you (Keith & Ed) they should pay taxes for road use like
we all do at the pump. How will they record and collect the
information about mileage? Will they demand that you attach some gizmo
to the car and what gives them the authority to do so?

My mileage is taken each year when the smog inspection is done. I see
no simple way other than that... Not all cars are registered at one
time, so it seems to me it would be a nightmare - just sayin'.

Easy enough to do. Many cars already come equipped to do that with
OnStar or BlueLink. They send monthly reports to the owner about the
car, they could also send it to the tax man.

The more difficult part is doing it by state. Truck for many years
have had to record miles traveled and fuel bought in each state
traveled. They then pay the appropriate taxes to each state. It is
now automated with GPS systems, and while that can be put into cars,
it is more expensive. With volume, I bet it is no more than a couple
of hundred bucks per car.


Many operators still use reporting of self determined data subject to
audit. They all use IFTA but if they aren't set up with GPS on each
vehicle tied into a reporting system they total up everything and enter
the miles/state and fuel purchases/state and upload that to IFTA.

As an aside our former governor was a big proponent of making all major
roads part of the PA pike. One of his selling points was the untrue
statement that out of state trucks transiting the state cause the most
damage and they "don't pay anything" even though IFTA has been in place
for a very long time to fairly apportion the collected taxes.


I live in a border town and travel more in the other state than where
my car is registered. With gas, I pay the tax where I buy the fuel.
With electric, I'd pay the tax at home, but wear out the roads
elsewhere.

With an all electric, there should be no smog inspection, but I'm sure
the state will find a way of getting you in to pay the tax.


The obvious solution is to require a GPS on each vehicle and have it log
all activity. Later they could even go further and implement time of day
surcharges and other "features". I am for everyone paying their fair
share but am against that idea because of the massive privacy violation
involved. For some reason I can never understand the republicans would
not have an issue.