Oregon Road Tax

[bok]

so then only oregon drivers would pay for oregon roads? or would they tag visiting vehicles and charge them when they leave the state?

Welcome to Oregon, we are monitoring your driving and will be sending you a bill

[CNF2002]

so then only oregon drivers would pay for oregon roads? or would they tag visiting vehicles and charge them when they leave the state?

Welcome to Oregon, we are monitoring your driving and will be sending you a bill

[jmillheiser]

gotta love it. reward SUV drivers for driving their huge gas guzzling behemoths and penalize people who drive fuel efficient cars.

did they ever stop to think how much extra it would cost to build and install said GPS devices.

why not just raise the gas tax. this would still reward people for driving more fuel efficient vehicles and make the state more money off of the gas guzzling SUVS.

[dieziege]

When they fail with GPSes they'll take the next logical approach... a License Plate Recognition-based monitoring system that bills by the formula:

distance traveled * emissions tax * speed * luxury tax * Universal Access Fund Tax * Education Fund tax * water district taxes if traveling through Harney County * Lockhead Martin Collection Fee Offset

[CNF2002]

why not just raise the gas tax. this would still reward people for driving more fuel efficient vehicles and make the state more money off of the gas guzzling SUVS.

Because people are stupid. They will see the increase in gas prices and freak out. If they kill the gas tax, gas prices will suddenly look ubercheap...gas stations will inflate their prices to some kind of middleground to increase profits, consumers will fill up more with the new cost being so low and increase their driving...thus adding to the mileage they are taxed on.

A small group will say, "Wait a minute...gas is cheap, but our taxes just increased!" and they will be on the news for a few weeks and there will be a few protests, political analysts will claim its all the Democrat's fault and in the end no one will listen because the average person doesn't care beyond the blatant marketing strategies and big flashy signs that say price on it (I mean if you ask any consumer at the station what their gas cost them, they will say they spent 2.34 for gas when they really spend 2.349, ie, 2.35 - most people probably have no idea gas everywhere is a penny more than advertised)...I'm not kidding...I remember distinctly laughing at some news report where they were interviewing a guy complaining about gas prices, the sign behind read "2.99 regular" and he actually said that he was sure it would be up to $3 soon.

Everyone wins, the government, the oil companies, and the contractors for the government who have a new bulging budget to play. Well the citizens of Oregon will all lose but hey, its not personal, its business.

[Nalian]

When I lived in WA we were always making fun of Oregon for their stupid and crazy laws they come up with.

Oregon is a nice place to visit but horrible to live in for that reason. Year after year the government fights with the citizens about various taxes - people move there because there is no sales tax..but then complain when they don't have services and their school systems are shutting down because they have no money..and won't pay for levies, etc.

This doesn't shock me at all. I doubt it'll pass though.

[Andrew]

Everyone wins, the government, the oil companies, and the contractors for the government who have a new bulging budget to play. Well the citizens of Oregon will all lose but hey, its not personal, its business.

Why blame the oil companies? Demand plays just as big of a role in setting prices. That's the nature of capitalism, and it is a good thing.

Any why do people demonize SUVs and trucks? Drivers of those vehicles pay for it in gas, but that's their choice.

[CNF2002]

It is, but should we shift the tax burden so that more of it rests on those who drive more economical vehicles?

If they 'pay' for it, fine.

Demand is not fair to all. Demand has a direct effect on everyone and this is a limited resource.

Okay, lets say you are on a campground. There are 10 tents around you. The campground has 100 gallon of gas and they are charging $5.00 a gallon for it, for use in people's generators.

Everyone uses about 1 gallon a day. Some guy however decides to use 5 gallons a day so he can run 3 TVs and a portable A/C unit. Since supplies are limited and demand is now up, the campground starts charging $10 a gallon.

Now you are paying $10 a gallon and you're about to run out of gas entirely, because one person decided to hog it all.

[roscowgo]

/me Finds GPS unit, applies hammer interface.

I'm tracked enough as it is. For petes sake give people a break on the spyin on em category. Feel like i should be drinking vodka and worrying about capatalists.

[jmillheiser]

When I lived in WA we were always making fun of Oregon for their stupid and crazy laws they come up with.

Oregon is a nice place to visit but horrible to live in for that reason. Year after year the government fights with the citizens about various taxes - people move there because there is no sales tax..but then complain when they don't have services and their school systems are shutting down because they have no money..and won't pay for levies, etc.

This doesn't shock me at all. I doubt it'll pass though.

gee and to think im considering moving to Oregon.

you would think they would pull their heads out of their collective "O Ring" and just levy a sales tax like every other state.

Wyoming has a sales tax but no state income tax and our state govt has zero problems with funding. most state funding here still comes from taxes on oil and mining companies.