An Idea Whose Time Has Come

Don M.

Don M.

SF VIP
Location
central Missouri
It's fairly obvious that our roads and bridges are needing some major work...and the current fuel taxes are Not keeping up with funding these projects. The fuel taxes haven't been raised in over 20 years, while the fuel mileage of most cars has almost doubled during that time frame. Some of the hybrid cars, etc., now get 40+ mpg, but they still beat up the roads just as much as a 20 mpg SUV,

https://pjmedia.com/trending/2016/03/15/coming-soon-government-to-tax-your-car-usage-by-the-mile/

Rather than taxing the fuel, it would make more sense, IMO, to tax according to miles driven. That would go a long way towards reducing needless driving, and encourage use of public transit, and car pooling, etc...and help reduce carbon emissions contributing to Climate Change.
 

Setting aside privacy issues for a minute miles driven by a CAR, a passenger automobile does not put the bulk of wear on the roads. The heavy/ier vehicles put most of the damage and/or wear on the roads. Cars can aggravate existing damage but besides weather(freeze-thaw cycles for example) and structural issues including water getting underneath a road or into a bridge's structure/frame the weight of a big rigs or smaller delivery & service trucks & vans bouncing on depressions, cracks, pot holes etc put more wear on the road than a 3,000 car. Also slow repairs and clean ups aggravate or put un necessary wear on roads because road debris winds up being drug around acting like sand paper on glass or putting gouches in the surface which in turn accelerate new or existing damage.

Perhaps a temporary flat tax by vehicle weight. Many highways already tax by weight which actually the best way to do it since the heavier vehicles are harder on roads. Milage tax is simply a different way to tax the same people.
 
WhatInThe said:
Setting aside privacy issues for a minute miles driven by a CAR, a passenger automobile does not put the bulk of wear on the roads. The heavy/ier vehicles put most of the damage and/or wear on the roads. Cars can aggravate existing damage but besides weather(freeze-thaw cycles for example) and structural issues including water getting underneath a road or into a bridge's structure/frame the weight of a big rigs or smaller delivery & service trucks & vans bouncing on depressions, cracks, pot holes etc put more wear on the road than a 3,000 car. Also slow repairs and clean ups aggravate or put un necessary wear on roads because road debris winds up being drug around acting like sand paper on glass or putting gouches in the surface which in turn accelerate new or existing damage.

Perhaps a temporary flat tax by vehicle weight. Many highways already tax by weight which actually the best way to do it since the heavier vehicles are harder on roads. Milage tax is simply a different way to tax the same people.
Click to expand...

Excellent!

But then the cost of trucked goods would go up, and you'd be taxing the same people indirectly. But I agree; it's big rigs, which keep getting bigger, that are tearing up the highways.

Per the article, Chad Shirley didn't suggest addressing the issue of federal spending, but instead suggested a tax increase. Why is that always the case? Well, I know why, but....
 
We drive a 2005 Mini with less than 25,000 miles on it. A tank (17 gal) lasts us 30 days are better, it weighs about 2300 lbs according to answers.com. Right now we are paying $.49 a gal tax & pump price is just over $2.05 for 89 octane. So if they charge by weight or mileage, we win. Instead of paying $28 for a fill up we'll probably save $2. I can buy a reg 20 oz coffee once a month. Where was this idea when I was driving 9500 miles annually through snow drifts in the winter and livestock in the summers just to get to work?
 
Debby said:
How would those miles be determined?
Click to expand...

As I understand it, the proposals would attach a small device to the cars "diagnostic" port, and the mileage would be read out annually when a person goes in to renew their license plates. However, the details are far from determined, so if such a measure is ever passed, I would guess that there would be several methods used to verify the mileage. For me, personally, it wouldn't matter much as we drive less than 10,000 miles annually anymore, so our "taxes" are not that big a deal. One way or another, the Feds and the States are going to have to find more revenue for the roads and bridges, or it won't be many more years before we have to spend untold billions to replace totally worn out infrastructure.
 
For the last two years, Pennsylvania has raised the gas tax to over .25 per gallon. At .50 tax per gallon, we are now the highest in the nation. I think we are supposed to have one more increase next year, but I am not positive about that. Accordingly, I have seen many road projects that have begun and some new projects added.
 
The longer our governments wait to begin a substantial rebuild of our roads and bridges, the more expensive such projects will become. If there is anything government can do to help with unemployment, and the stagnation of the Middle Class, major infrastructure rebuilding projects would have to be at the top of the list. Individually, supporting such projects would be a minor expense for everyone, but the rewards to our overall economy, and future stability would be huge. Virtually everything we take for granted....road, bridges, electrical grid, water and sewer systems, etc., etc., were all built decades ago, and they are quickly reaching "end of life".

Instead of Policing the World, and paying people Not to work, we should be spending the majority of our tax dollars on improving the foundations of This nation, and giving millions of people an opportunity to become self supporting.
 
One of the problems besides incompetence, under funding, corruption etc is the mindset of replace rather than repair. This is across the board. Too many in the US have the mindset of replace rather than repair. True, there are occasions where replacing is actually needed and the only option but there are too many others where it's simply easier replace it, don't fix it as the first and only choice. This is also a instant gratification short attention span disposable society so replacing or repaving a road will be the choice of many. But do they need replacement/repaving. A lot of the roads I see the same problem areas in the same spot year round, so rather than redo a couple miles of road to impress the voters and taxpayers as much as anything(there are roads around here that have always been repaved before a big election) why not shut down a quarter mile stretch and not only repave it but redo the bedding, foundation, stone layer etc rather than just scrape & pave. Same for some of the bridges, wouldn't it be better to shut down a bridge for a few weeks or months every 2-5 years rather than give it a complete reno every 10-20 years?

Point being they can't even maintain or repair roads and bridges as is so what happens when those new showroom roads & bridges age-the same problem.
 

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