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Future of Transportation Taxation and ways to move about the country
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<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=georgia,palatino>If this transition goes foreword, I don’t think it is realistic to assume that it will simply translate the existing gas tax into a mileage tax on a numerically equivalent basis.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This new system will open the door to a whole new world of fee structures that will make your phone bill seem like a walk in the woods.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The price per mile for driving could change with every revolution of your wheels.</FONT></P><FONT face=georgia,palatino> <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=georgia,palatino>What I am suggesting about the ultimate full application of this system as a traffic management device on <U>page 1</U> of this thread is only my opinion and assumption, which I wrote in 2005.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>As far as I know, nobody has published anything that comes to the same conclusions.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>However, when you connect all the dots, I don’t think it is far fetched at all.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It’s inevitable.</FONT></P><FONT face=georgia,palatino> <o:p></o:p></FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=georgia,palatino>The concept of installing GPS computers as mandatory equipment in all vehicles for the purpose of collecting fees per mile driven as a replacement for fuel tax per gallon is not my theory or assumption.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>That idea is clearly under development in many states and countries, and may only be a few years away.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>However, there is already a growing public backlash to it for two specific reasons:</FONT></P><FONT face=georgia,palatino> <o:p></o:p></FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 36.75pt; TEXT-INDENT: -18.75pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.75pt"><FONT face=georgia,palatino>1)<SPAN style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </SPAN>It is perceived as a tax increase.</FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 36.75pt; TEXT-INDENT: -18.75pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.75pt"><FONT face=georgia,palatino>2)<SPAN style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </SPAN>It is perceived as being too much “Big Brother” because the government will know where you drive and when you drive.</FONT></P><FONT face=georgia,palatino> <o:p></o:p></FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=georgia,palatino>Of the two, it is the perception of<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>“Big Brother” in your car that has people the most worried.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It is closely related to the apprehension of the current On Star system, and to the concern about computer chips being secretly embedded in cars to record driver information, as well as the so-called “smart license plates,” which are under development.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>At this time, the objective for this new system is not intended to increase taxes.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It is only to recoup what is considered to be tax avoidance by increasing fuel efficiency of cars.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The states argue that every new mile per gallon you get is basically a tax-free mile to drive on roads that cost money to provide</FONT></P><FONT face=georgia,palatino> <o:p></o:p></FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=georgia,palatino>As for the rest of my theory about the ultimate application, all of the components are individually under consideration and being tried in several test applications.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>So once we have the basic tax-by-mile proposal developed, it will be inevitable to combine it with all of these other traffic control and energy conservation measures.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This is truly a marriage made in heaven. </FONT></P><FONT face=georgia,palatino> <o:p></o:p></FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=georgia,palatino>A large part of the objective will be traffic management that will have the effect of increasing roadway capacity.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This will undermine the current argument that we have hit a dead end with highway capacity.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Also, the comprehensive, automatic traffic law enforcement will bring in enormous amounts of new revenue.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This new revenue combined with the savings of manual law enforcement and traffic court costs will more than offset the cost of this new system.</FONT></P><FONT face=georgia,palatino> <o:p></o:p></FONT> <P mce_keep="true"></SPAN> </P>
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