Aha...A new tax....well maybe not.

Pappy

Pappy

Living the Dream
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Moved back to NY from Florida. 🤓 2025
Just heard on the news tonight that Florida as well as many other states are thinking of doing away with the present gas tax at the pumps. What they are proposing is that a gadget would be plugged in under the dash and it would record your mileage.
Then you would be charged from 1 cent to 3 cents per mile at certain times. Monthly or yearly. If you drive about 10,000 miles a year, you would pay, if it were 3 cents, $300.00. The question was asked what would happen if one were to drive from state to state. This, they said, would have to be worked out.

I am undecided about this as I don't drive many miles per year. At first, I thought it was a lousy idea but I guess we are going to pay one way or another.
 

Paying to drive may one day become a reality in central Florida.
MetroPlan Orlando board members are considering a new pay-per-mile tax system.
It’s a controversial proposal that’s getting attention from lawmakers.
Instead of being taxed at the gas pump, drivers would pay a mileage fee.
Leaders said the extra revenue will go toward road improvements because the current gas tax may not support road improvements as more drivers choose electric and hybrid cars.
“Revenue is declining because (of) hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles that do not pay a fuel tax,” said Eric Hill of MetroPlan Orlando, the metropolitan planning organization for Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties.
Hill proposed a test study to other board members.
The idea is to use little devices installed on cars to tax you by the mile and get rid of the current tax at the gas pump.
“There are those who are right now paying a much greater share of the cost of infrastructure they drive—the streets,” said Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs.
Some residents said they don’t like the idea of a device tracking their miles.
“I just think that’s an invasion of privacy. I just don’t think they should be able to track where we go,” said Orlando resident Adam Kinkler. “I think there is a way to do this where Big Brother is not in your car.”
The study will be up for a vote next month and implementation, if it happens, would be years away.
 

SeaBreeze said:
I don't want any tracking devices in my car.
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If you have a newer vehicle...say, less than 15 years old, the odds are you have a "tracking device" in your car. OnStar, for example, which has been part of virtually every GM vehicle for nearly two decades, can track wherever you drive, via satellite...irregardless of whether or not you have maintained the subscription. I'm sure most other automakers have similar systems in their cars. OnStar only offers its services to those who pay, but the capability is there, should the government ever decide to go to a "miles driven" form of taxation. I'm sure Onstar would accept a payment from a state government to track your movements.

But, if it ever gets to that, there is a Fuse in the car that can be removed so as to power the OnStar control box down. Then, they could just tax a person on the odometer reading every time the license plate came due for renewal.
 
I have three vehicles, and it's true that my newest, an '07 Dodge Nitro does have a tracking device like many new computerized cars...nothing you can do about it but buy older vehicles. I don't want and never had OnStar. I don't want to put any tracking devices in my cars that don't have one already. Here's a listing of models/years with mandatory tracking 'black boxes'. http://www.rimkus.com/uploads/pdfs/Event_Data_Recorder.pdf
 
That sounds horrible. Here in Ontario they are talking about just adding more tax at the pumps, just because the price is so low right now. Of course, when the price goes up again, as it always does they sure won't take the tax off. We get taxed to death!
 
Yup, I would venture that 95% of the cars on the road today can be tracked. That number will rise to 99.9% in a very few years. Between the auto devices, and cell phones, the vast majority of people can already be tracked to within a few feet anytime they have their "devices" turned on.

One thing is for sure...we WILL be paying a higher "transportation" tax in the very near future....IF we want decent roads and bridges. The taxes dedicated to these roads is dwindling, and there is a substantial shortfall at both the Federal and most State levels.
 
Pappy said:
“Revenue is declining because (of) hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles that do not pay a fuel tax,” said Eric Hill of MetroPlan Orlando, the metropolitan planning organization for Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties.
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That's bull-dinky! In September of last year electrics and hybrids combined made up 0.85% of total vehicle production in the U.S. - and THAT was the highest percentage to date.

I would think revenue is declining for two other reasons: One, cars (and trucks) are getting much better mileage these days, and two, the money previously apportioned to road maintenance has probably been given over to social welfare and other income-negative programs.

In addition to Onstar and cellphones you now have insurance companies such as Progressive that offer to give you a little tracking device, ostensibly to reduce your insurance payment.

Not for me, even if I WAS still driving.
 
In PA, we have to have our vehicles state inspected once per year. At that time, the mileage is recorded as well as when we send in our yearly registration. The mileage could be figured by taking the current year's inspection and subtracting the preceding year's inspection mileage would show the total miles driven for one year, then tax those miles at whatever rate. The fellow doing the inspection records the mileage into the computer that then is sent to the state. At one time, it was not too difficult to rollback speedometers, however, today, with all of the electronic gadgetry on-board, it is more difficult.
 
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