TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: CA DMV Chief Backs Tax by Mile

Re: CA DMV Chief Backs Tax by Mile

Justin Time (a_user2000@yahoo.com)
1 Dec 2004 09:52:38 -0800

Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> wrote in message
news:<telecom23.573.1@telecom-digest.org>:

> New appointee has advocated a levy based on how much and where
> motorists drive. Idea is gaining support, but privacy advocates worry.

> By Robert Salladay
> Times Staff Writer

> SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday appointed a new
> Department of Motor Vehicles director who has advocated taxing
> motorists for every mile they drive -- by placing tracking devices in
> their cars.

> The idea would mean a significant overhaul of how California collects
> taxes to maintain its often-crumbling roads. Under the plan, the state
> gas tax -- now 18 cents a gallon -- would be replaced with a tax on
> every mile traveled by each car and truck.

> The notion has not been endorsed by Schwarzenegger but is gaining
> acceptance among transportation and budget experts. As Californians
> drive increasingly more fuel-efficient cars, state officials are
> alarmed that the gasoline tax will not raise enough money to keep up
> with road needs.

> Charging people for the miles they drive also worries some owners of
> hybrid cars, because it could wipe out any gas-tax savings they now
> enjoy.

> Dan Beal, managing director of public policy for the Automobile Club
> of Southern California, said altering the system would remove one
> incentive to buying new-technology hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius,
> because its owner would pay the same fuel tax as a Hummer owner.

> http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dmv16nov16,0,5985536.story

Duhh! Somebody needs to teach this reporter about taxes and how they
are levied and collected.

"Charging people for the miles they drive also worries some owners of
hybrid cars, because it could wipe out any gas-tax savings they now
enjoy.

Dan Beal, managing director of public policy for the Automobile Club
of Southern California, said altering the system would remove one
incentive to buying new-technology hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius,
because its owner would pay the same fuel tax as a Hummer owner."

"The idea would mean a significant overhaul of how California collects
taxes to maintain its often-crumbling roads. Under the plan, the state
gas tax -- now 18 cents a gallon -- would be replaced with a tax on
every mile traveled by each car and truck."

If the tax is on the gasoline the vehicle consumes, isn't the "fuel
efficient" Prius paying the same 18 cents per gallon the "gas guzzler"
Hummer pays or am I missing something here? I thought the savings
came into play because the Prius used less gasoline - which is taxed -
to travel the same distance than the Hummer. The consumer is not
saving anything on the gas tax, they are saving because they consume
less, that makes it a consumption tax.

Now the plan being proposed is still a consumption tax, but instead of
fuel they are proposing it on the amount of asphalt and concrete used.

Just my thoughts.

Rodgers Platt

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