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Your car Fuel efficient? = Taxing drivers for distance driven
Have you ever heard of the vehicle miles traveled tax? No?
Well get ready to hear more about it, because the vehicle miles traveled tax, or VMT, is the latest way states in the USA are looking to make up for falling gas tax revenues.
Interest in the new tax has blossomed as states see their revenues shrinking from gasoline taxes - usually used for road maintenance. The decline results from new cars getting better gas mileage and thus less gasoline sold to be taxed.
The question of lost revenues with the gas tax arises especially with all-electric cars like the Prius, Leaf or Tesla models. Those motorists pay no gas taxes at all - although their electric bills do include some taxes.
The idea is to make the price you pay per mile about equal to what you pay now with the gas tax.
Here’s how it works, users will get a device that plugs into a vehicle’s on-board diagnostics port to gather mileage data used to determine the usage charge.
It also has a GPS locator beacon, relaying data about where you are, where you’re headed, and where you've been.
Of course they since they are in your ECU they also have access to other data stored in there, including your speed, rate of acceleration, angular velocity, whether you’re wearing a seatbelt and they can send commands back to the car.
Nothing is said about them reading such data or using it - yet.
Over 11 states are either in the process of passing legislation or are currently conducting trials programs.
Foxnews got it right for once!:
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/...g-cars-trucks/
And if you think in Canada we are immune:
http://www.pressreader.com/canada/th...26886/TextView
Well get ready to hear more about it, because the vehicle miles traveled tax, or VMT, is the latest way states in the USA are looking to make up for falling gas tax revenues.
Interest in the new tax has blossomed as states see their revenues shrinking from gasoline taxes - usually used for road maintenance. The decline results from new cars getting better gas mileage and thus less gasoline sold to be taxed.
The question of lost revenues with the gas tax arises especially with all-electric cars like the Prius, Leaf or Tesla models. Those motorists pay no gas taxes at all - although their electric bills do include some taxes.
The idea is to make the price you pay per mile about equal to what you pay now with the gas tax.
Here’s how it works, users will get a device that plugs into a vehicle’s on-board diagnostics port to gather mileage data used to determine the usage charge.
It also has a GPS locator beacon, relaying data about where you are, where you’re headed, and where you've been.
Of course they since they are in your ECU they also have access to other data stored in there, including your speed, rate of acceleration, angular velocity, whether you’re wearing a seatbelt and they can send commands back to the car.
Nothing is said about them reading such data or using it - yet.
Over 11 states are either in the process of passing legislation or are currently conducting trials programs.
Foxnews got it right for once!:
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/...g-cars-trucks/
And if you think in Canada we are immune:
http://www.pressreader.com/canada/th...26886/TextView
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