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This is some ****ing bull****. I'm not paying this ****ing tax, ****ing piece of **** I swear if this **** goes through I'll start voting republican. Tax my ass, you have got to be ****ing kidding me!
First and foremost I'll only support this if the fuel tax is removed. We don't need a new tax, we need a replacement tax to fairly distribute the costs of road maintenance. Ideally you use a formula based on the weight of the car and the miles driven, its inevitable that something of this nature will have to be utilized very soon. The gas tax was actually one the fairer taxes because it did tax on mileage driven and weight of the car to some degree but with the introduction of hybrids and electric cars they are being subsidized by other drivers. The road doesn't care if your 3000 pound car is electric or gasoline car, you're going to do the same damage.
GPS tracking while probably the most efficient and easiest way to implement this should have no part in this. Instead it should be done with a voluntary monthly bill the consumer can set, during the yearly inspection the owner will have to come up to date on taxes owed before the inspection is issued, same thing when they sell or junk the car. No sales unless the tax is paid.
First and foremost I'll only support this if the fuel tax is removed. We don't need a new tax, we need a replacement tax to fairly distribute the costs of road maintenance. Ideally you use a formula based on the weight of the car and the miles driven, its inevitable that something of this nature will have to be utilized very soon. The gas tax was actually one the fairer taxes because it did tax on mileage driven and weight of the car to some degree but with the introduction of hybrids and electric cars they are being subsidized by other drivers. The road doesn't care if your 3000 pound car is electric or gasoline car, you're going to do the same damage.
GPS tracking while probably the most efficient and easiest way to implement this should have no part in this. Instead it should be done with a voluntary monthly bill the consumer can set, during the yearly inspection the owner will have to come up to date on taxes owed before the inspection is issued, same thing when they sell or junk the car. No sales unless the tax is paid.
A tax to fairly distribute the costs of road maintenance? It would almost seem as though you think we've only been driving on roads for the past 10 years. We've been using and repairing roads for almost 100 years now. And no, the fuel tax was never an equitable way of accounting for road repair. Diesel fuel, up until recently, was always cheaper than gasoline, while it's the heavy commercial trucks that cause much more damage to roads than do cars, but pay separately for commercial transportation taxes that probably do not cover the damage they do in relative amounts payed by non-commercial public use.
Those state officials who are crying about smaller revenues due to better fuel efficiency are selling a load of crap. The GD highways have never had so many large SUVs and Trucks running than is now so common. 40 years ago, it was uncommon to see much of anything other than cars used by the average commuter, and I guarantee you that a Chevy Suburban or Tahoe isn't getting better fuel economy than the old gas guzzlers of yesteryear, and certainly not better than the VW Bugs and American Pony cars that used to pepper the highways, replaced by the yuppie truckers with three rows of seats.
The real issue ... when we consider the crappy state of interstate highways today, and the crumbling bridges, is that State and Federal Transportation authorities have squandered vast amounts of money over the decades, and now face the costs of years of neglect, and want to jack us up some more to foot the bill. It's like everything else ... they need more and more, while delivering less and less.
Who actually benefits most from the interstate highway system? The average Joe commuter, or the commercial industry that causes most of the damage? And you do realize that we ... Joe and Josephine public pay those commercial fuel taxes too ... in the form of consumer costs for the products shipped.
The better idea would be to end this gaggle of 200 different taxes and fees that we all pay without even realizing it, and come up with an entirely new and more equitable system ... with these Billion Dollar corporations paying their fair share, rather than the ZERO amount they are currently paying. And we need a better system of accounting by government to ensure that the monies collected are used for their intended purposes, and not handed out as Trillion Dollar gifts to the gangsters as has been occurring.
The gal that lives in the 50million mansion in the uber ritzy area is paying 8k a year in property taxes due to the freeze.
What happened to tax the rich more? SF have people with a net worth in the hundreds of millions if not billions paying virtually no property taxes on their mansions....and they are talking about tracking devices and new taxes? WTH is wrong with their leadership?
I think you speak of Proposition 13, which I do not know enough about.
The cars 40 years ago weighed as much or more than your SUV today and burned leaded fuel. Fuel economy has increased almost 100% across all vehicles in 40 years.
Your dad's big station wagon was lucky to get 10mpg.
First and foremost I'll only support this if the fuel tax is removed. We don't need a new tax, we need a replacement tax to fairly distribute the costs of road maintenance. Ideally you use a formula based on the weight of the car and the miles driven, its inevitable that something of this nature will have to be utilized very soon. The gas tax was actually one the fairer taxes because it did tax on mileage driven and weight of the car to some degree but with the introduction of hybrids and electric cars they are being subsidized by other drivers. The road doesn't care if your 3000 pound car is electric or gasoline car, you're going to do the same damage.
GPS tracking while probably the most efficient and easiest way to implement this should have no part in this. Instead it should be done with a voluntary monthly bill the consumer can set, during the yearly inspection the owner will have to come up to date on taxes owed before the inspection is issued, same thing when they sell or junk the car. No sales unless the tax is paid.
How would you deal with out-of-state visitors, that do not have a GPS transmitter?
If GPS transmitters became mandatory, I would purchase a GPS jammer that not only blocks all GPS signals from my vehicle, but from every vehicle within 300 feet of the jammer. Like my cell-phone jammer.
Of course the fools in charge will never think of pesky little details like these. How many will rip the gps transmitter out of their car and leave it in the garage and not pay any tax at all? Sure it will be against the law but folks break the law every time they drive anyway most likely by speeding here and there or not signaling whatever. How many new gps crime investigators will the IRS need to employ in cali to investigate tax cheating. ON and on it will go. They will spend ten times the amount of taxes they will bring in to even get it off the ground. Probably more.
This is an interesting idea being floated by some local officials. It is currently in the larval stage, but I can envision the day when roads are partially paid for this way, with advancements in technology. There are both economic and social ramifications, of course.
"Under a proposal still in its early stages, drivers could be required to install GPS-like odometers or other devices in their vehicles and pay from less than a penny to as much as a dime for every mile driven. The idea could take a decade or more to be launched. Commission spokesman Randy Rentschler acknowledged such a concept ultimately could prove a hard sell with Bay Area residents, who would likely resist both the travel tax and the government-mandated tracking devices. "The last thing we're interested in is where you go and what you do," Rentschler said Thursday, after the vote. "What we're trying to do is get people to figure out a way to raise revenue that they could support."
There are personal privacy ramifications.
If "the last thing we're interested in is where you go and what you do" then there is no reason to install GPS-like odometers in vehicles, period.
Note: I do not live in SF or CA.
Every year my license plates come up for renewal I have to get a vehicle inspection and turn that in to the license bureau as part of the renewal process. My odometer reading is part of that inspection report. At that time the fee (tax) could be levied in such a way to charge me for miles driven, no need for GPS nor additional staff to do that.
We've been monitoring traffic density on highways and roads for decades with counters and road sensors so that arguement is similarly debunked.
The arguement to debunk the more speedy return of stolen vehicles is that if criminals will destroy VIN #'s they will similarly destroy chipped registration stickers on windshields.
My state and insurance company treat my vehicle as part of my home (Castle Doctrine). Police may not search my vehicle without my permission or without "just cause" just like they must have a warrant to search my property. Why then should the federal government be allowed to track my vehicular travels without a warrant by installing a GPS to tax same movement?
F them and the horse they road in on. Vote all such turds proposing that out of office.
Truckers have been paying by the mile for transporting commercial things. Tax the streets and you will throw the economy and vacationing into Depression levels IMO.
What a bunch of idiots they are in SF.
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It is not about taxing you it is about controlling you!
