Read this!! Want to be taxed for each mile you drive?

by Matt Porter

The later is an article from newsobserver.com. If you don’t want to read the whole business, it basically says that they are before a live audience with the thought of taxing everyone for each mile they drive because more and more public will be turning to fuel efficient cars and not buying as much gas and they will be loosing the gas tax money.

What do you reckon of this?

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Bruce Siceloff, Staff Writer
Comment on this tale

Two hundred Triangle drivers will be recruited this fall to road-test a satellite-technology system that might be used one day to collect highway taxes on every mile we drive — replacing the gas tax on every gallon we buy.
Computers mounted in volunteers’ cars will use global positioning system tracking to count the miles — even across state lines.

Participants will receive make-judge state and centralized tax bills for their miles. For their time and their opinions, they’ll be paid $ 895 in real money.

The $ 16.5 million Road User Charge Study will enlist drivers in six states to determine whether the technology works, and whether Americans would accept a new mileage tax. Volunteers will be questioned how they feel about technology that collects information about their driving.

The centralized government and 15 states, including North Carolina, are paying for the study to find a honest, reliable revenue source that can keep pace with growing transportation needs.

“The gas tax is not going to be a viable way of funding our highways in the future,” Jon Kuhl, a University of Iowa professor who is directing the study, said in an interview. “The national Highway Trust Fund is already going broke, and the situation is going to get worse.”

Gas tax collections are slowing as cars get more miles on each gallon, and as $ 4 pump prices force Americans to reduce their driving. A few years from now, many Americans might be driving plug-in electric and fuel-cell cars that don’t use gas at all.

Michael Walden, an economist at N.C. State University, said the study will help Americans answer hard questions about how to pay for the nation’s transportation infrastructure. He agreed with Kuhl that the nation needs to find a replacement for the gas tax.

“Perhaps a better way in terms of assessing someone’s use of the roads is not how many gallons they use but how many miles they really drive,” said Walden, who is not involved in the study. “A mileage tax may maybe be adjusted over time, as the cost of road construction goes up.”

With the $ 895 bounty and an advertising campaign that will start next week, Kuhl and his team hope to enlist a diverse mix of car owners from the six-county Triangle area. Details are available by phone at 866-363-1975 (toll-free) or online at www.roaduserstudy.org.

After the participants are chosen and trained, their cars will be outfitted with GPS computers — the satellite technology that drives well loved dashboard navigation gadgets. Over eight months, starting in December, the car’s computer will record the number of miles driven in each state, then upload the information to a central billing system.

Make-judge taxes

Cars will have make-judge per-mile tax tariff based on their EPA-estimated fuel economy.

The tax tariff are intended to generate about the same taxes on miles that the car pays in taxes on gallons of gas. The mileage tax would be higher for a heavy truck that burns a lot of gas, and lower for a fuel-thrifty hybrid.

A typical car rated at 24 miles per gallon will have a make-judge centralized tax rate of 0.8 cents per mile, plus 1.3 cents per mile for the North Carolina tax, Kuhl said. For 24 miles, that’s 31.2 cents state and 19.2 cents centralized tax — about a penny more than the current taxes on a gallon.

If the technology works, it may maybe give centralized, state and even community governments the option to set different tax tariff for different vehicles.

Volunteers also will test of public attitudes about a new type of tax — and about technology that gathers information about where public drive.

“Privacy is a hot-button issue,” Kuhl said. “Public rightly have a knee-jerk reaction about life tracked.”

The system will only count the number of miles driven each month in a agreed state, he said.

“There’s no way these units may maybe be used to track public or determine they were in a particular place at a particular time,” Kuhl said.

Some drivers will worry about government snooping, Walden said, and that may maybe make it even harder to sell the thought of a new tax.

“I don’t know if the mileage tax is going to be any better accepted than the gas tax, but I know we have a conundrum result money for our roads,” Walden said.

bruce.siceloff@newsobserver.com or 919-829-4527

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/growth/traffic/tale/1245637.html

Answer by General Custer
It is simpler to raise fuel taxes. Do you really want the government tracking all your movements?

Answer by MadMan
Taxing fuel achieves the same end and is much simpler for them to do.

Add your own answer in the comments!

Google Street View mapping car


Image by djuggler
Knoxville is life street mapped

What do you reckon about this. SOD: Brad is Missing!

Last week, Sharon second-hand Brad’s plea for a relationship. This week, he leaves the Abbott cabin and heads out into a perilous blizzard. When Colleen realizes that she hasn’t heard from her dad in reasonably a while, worries start to mount.

“She knows her father well and he’s very punctual and always in communication with his daughters,” clarifies Tammin Sursok. “They’re supposed to have lunch collectively and he doesn’t call and when she calls him, he doesn’t answer. From the start, she thinks something’s amiss. When it turns into near a day, Colleen suspects that something’s really not right.”

Billy and Lily try to ease her fears, but a worried Colleen decides to look for her father herself. She goes to her ex-boyfriend JT for help, even interrupting his anniversary with Victoria. “She’s not thinking about her own past relationship with JT at all. This is strictly about wanting to find Brad.”

JT gets a search in order and they track Brad’s cell to his abandoned car. The phone is inside the car, but Brad is missing. Meanwhile, Abby, Billy, Lily and Ashley check Brad’s voicemail and they’re all shocked to hear a message from Victor threatening Brad if he doesn’t resign from Newman’s board of directors. When Abby confronts Victor about it, Colleen overheard and unleashes her fury on Victor. She’s enraged.

Colleen confronts Victor in front of the whole crowd, telling him that everyone knows how much he despised Brad.

Elsewhere in Genoa City, Noah (who is still recovering after falling into icy water) finally remember that Brad was the person who rescued him.

Once Victor comes to realize how serious the situation really is, he offers up some of his own resources to help find Carlton. But, JT secretly admits to Billy that thinks aren’t looking excellent for Brad.

Don Diamont’s last day as Brad is February 5.

“It was tough saying goodbye,” sighs Sursok. “I had a lot of scenes with him, so I connected with him from the beginning. He helped show me the ropes when I first joined. I was also upset for him because he’s been on the show for so many years. His last day was a very sad day for me.”

Answer by Sue B
WOW that’s reasonably a storyline, you reckon they find a body or are they leaving room for a restore? :~)

Answer by Brandi G
Once again, you never stop to amaze me with your spoiler platters. It all sounds just terrifc, i’ll be able to watch Brad’s last day because it’s my day off. You are a life saver, thanks a billion times over and have a delightful day.

Answer by vashtivaughn
Wow looks like its getting very intense! I wonder is there something going to happen to Brad.

Answer by mconrey
Sounds intense, Brad will be missed
I hope he’s not gone for excellent…

Answer by klueless
WOW!i reckon its so sad to see “brad” go.you just cannot kill off fantastic characters like brad or dru.i hope they don’t find the body so that ther will be some chance of him returning.i’m still hoping for dru’s restore as well.

Know better? Place your own answer in the comments!
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