I will admit to a huge degree of personal bias in this, since I drive a Prius, but this strikes me as a "screw the Prius owners" move.

I can see the logic behind it, but I also ask "why should I pay the same in taxes as a Lincoln Navigator owner, when we want to encourage fuel efficient cars?"

"I'm not a member of any organized political party. I'm a Democrat." -- Will Rogers

I will admit to a huge degree of personal bias in this, since I drive a Prius, but this strikes me as a "screw the Prius owners" move.

I had the same thought. Or another subsidy for SUV's.

You want to exact a cost for the consumption of gasoline, not for miles travelled. Even the stated reason - that Priuses don't pay for the upkeep of roads - is bullshit. The vehicles that beat the hell out of roads are the semis. They pay piles of taxes but even so don't actually keep up with their damage.

Hey, for the same reason, we should tax walkers and bicyclists, damn spongers who don't pay a dime for road upkeep.

Liberty and justice for all.

My home

Besides, if this is really needed and a good idea, there are cheaper and easier ways to do it.

Instead of a GPS, cars could be tagged with an RFID chip that tells the pump the make and model. The pump then looks up the vehicle in the EPA mileage database and adjusts the tax accordingly. Not as accurate, but close enough and no invasion of privacy or potential for abuse.

But I agree it takes away one incentive to buy more fuel efficient cars, and the other ideas are more creative.

One of the mystifying things about consumer highway taxes to me is that it is not pegged to make and model of vehicle as Randy pointed out. Commercial vehicles, depending on locale, pay according to form, not just use. If you have a delivery truck with two axles or no dual rear axle in NJ, for example, the taxation is less. If you have a semi, it is substantially more.* The RFID thing is a neat idea, but, as an EZ Pass holder, there's a privacy thing there. There's nothing more creepy than getting your quarterly EZPASS statement and it shows every toll you paid and every exit you got on and off.

*NB. If you see a container rack (the trailer that sea-going cargo container ride on for delivery) in the Northeast, it will invariably have a TN tag. The Hamilton County clerk charges $97.50 for a permanent one-time fee tag and there's no inspection other than random road going, which rarely happens. Can you say "Lucrative?"

True happiness is knowing you are a hypocrite. -- Ivor Cutler

You want to exact a cost for the consumption of gasoline, not for miles travelled.

I agree, except ideally it would account for number of passengers too. Maybe some kind of weighted formula like the one Ethel Merman proposed in It's a Mad, Mad, .... World. It was really pretty good!

it will invariably have a TN tag.

Sounds like the rest of the country found a TN loophole to exploit. I never noticed that about those trailers.

Oregon- where there is no sales tax, you only pay about $25 bucks a year for auto tags and you can't pump your own gas at the station. Since Oregon is so eco-friendly and the state population is trending to more cleaner/fuel efficient cars on the road, they are going to have to pay for new roads and bridges somehow. Simply raising the tag fee would not be equitable to lower incomes and those who can't afford that new car with better mileage.

With the exception of their pioneering the use of sand filtration systems on hillsides, I do so love Oregon.

A few other states seem to be looking at forms of something similar....

Governors in Idaho and Rhode Island have considered systems that would require drivers to report their mileage when they register vehicles.

In North Carolina last month, a panel suggested charging motorists a quarter-cent for every mile as a substitute for the gas tax.

James Whitty, the Oregon Department of Transportation employee in charge of the state's effort, said he's also heard talk of mileage tax proposals in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Colorado and Minnesota.

"There is kind of a coalition that's naturally forming around this," he said.

I meant that larger, gas thirstier vehicles should not be penalized if they get the same person-miles/gallon. A vehicle that gets 15 miles/gallon and transports two people, say, could be taxed the same as a 30 mpg vehicle that doesn't carry more than its driver. I'm not sure we're on the same page or not.

I don't know how to track how many people are in a vehicle, though. I still wish we had an HOV lane here, with eligibility extended toward high MPG cars. Doesn't it work in Nashville? Not sure whether they give high MPG cars a break like California does.

I think California is the same way. They have special decals through state registration.

Why did Virginia drop the eligibility for hybrids? Lobbying that there are pure gas and diesel cars that get as good mileage?

Am I missing something?

San Francisco "considering a plan to ease traffic by charging drivers a fee upon entering notoriously clogged sections of the city."

Bloomberg tried this in NYC and did not get anywhere.