While this new study is currently being looked at for the San Francisco Bay area, it could take up to ten years to implement, the thought of being charged per mile driven is enough to give any commuter nightmares. After waiting for years of high gas prices to finally get a break by having the choice of more fuel efficient models, the last thing drivers want to hear about is having to spend more money to get to places they need to go. The Bay area noticed that since people don’t need as much gas, the city isn’t going to get as much tax money from the gas purchased and wouldn’t adding a per mile tax onto all ready burdened drivers a way to compensate?
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Association of Bay Area Governments are currently researching this very plan. What it will do is require all drivers that have their cars registered in the area fitted with a GPS device that will track the number of miles driven. Drivers could then be charged anywhere between less than a penny per mile up to 10 cents per mile. The research is estimating the potential for the city to rake in a revenue system of $15 million per day from this highway robbery tactic.
While some people cringe at the thought of the government tracking everywhere they go the comment was, “The last thing we’re interested in is where you go and what you do,” Rentschler tells the Associated Press. “What we’re trying to do is get people to figure out a way to raise revenue that they could support.”
This mileage tax is nothing new as far as the government devising plans on how to make it work. Atlanta, Oregon and Washington state have also been toying with the idea. Some research has gone as far as giving a group of test driver’s money to put a GPS devise in their car and track their mileage. Amount of the money they were given was deducted based on how much they drove. These drivers logged fewer numbers of miles than another test group that had the device installed in their car without the money or having to pay.
Source Mercury News