Taxing by the Mile

I read an interesting article in the LA Times yesterday about a subject that I wrote about in July; namely, installing a tracking device on every car that feeds information to the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) regarding where you’re driving, or how many miles you’re driving. Believe it or not, the new DMV director that Arnold just appointed is claiming that California is not getting enough money from gasoline taxes in proportion to the miles driven because cars are getting more fuel efficient, and something should be done about it.

Here is what they are discussing:

1) install a device on each vehicle that transmits the odometer reading into the gasoline pump when you buy gas, which then calculates your tax based on how many miles you have driven since your last fillup. You would probably pay a tax that is proportional to the weight of your car, since heavier cars tend to use more gas and do more damage to the roads than light cars.

2) install a device on each vehicle that communicates with a GPS satellite and records, in addition to how many miles you drive, exactly which roads you travel and at which time of day. Here, you might pay a tax that varies with the particular road, with maybe a “rush-hour” penalty, or maybe a “freeway tax” or who knows. When you put all this data in the hands of politicians, virtually anything can happen whether it makes sense or not.

Here are a few possible scenarios that come to mind after the DMV starts distributing (selling?)your data to other agencies and select companies:

• You get a notice in the mail from the DMV that the miles per gallon for your 1995 Suburban have fallen below new minimum levels. Even though you get the same mileage you did when it was new, you are hereby required to upgrade the engine or pay a substantial fine.
  
• You receive a speeding ticket in the mail based on how long it took you to travel from Bakersfield to Las Vegas, accounting for the 35 minute stop at Denney’s in Baker. (Side note: you take pleasure in the fact that they still don’t know what you had for lunch).
  
• Your aunt Lillian calls and yells at you for not stopping to see her when you drove through Palm Springs last month (she subscribes to a new Google service that sends her alerts when her relatives pass through town).

Technology is our friend.