Massachusetts may consider a mileage charge

[egneg]

I always vote against the incumbents. Some day politicians might figure out that folks hold them to their campaign promises.

[Steven Vaccaro]

Like that would do any good. Remember the immortal words of the Who:

Meet the new Boss, Same as the old Boss

Don't get fooled again!!!

Bill the network must be broken. There are far too many favors that need to be repaid with these current guys. One great example of "favors" that have been repaid is the whole O cabinet.

[Bill-SOCAL]

Exactly my point.

The two parties are the two sides of the same coin. Some of use prefer the "heads" side some the "tails" side but in the end the differences are not all that great.

[Bill-SOCAL]

Well, it looks like the idea of charging per mile driven has reached the Federal level.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/20/mileage-tax-considered-by_n_168506.html

And the interesting thing is that La Hood is a Republican. So are the Governors of Rhode Island, Idaho, and South Carolina mentioned in the story.

You say pa-tay-toe
I say pa-ta-toe

Really the same thing in the end.

[Steven Vaccaro]

Exactly my point.

The two parties are the two sides of the same coin. Some of use prefer the "heads" side some the "tails" side but in the end the differences are not all that great.

Only the same side of the coin when it comes to corruption.

[NorthernBoater]

If they started putting this in new cars it would just give more incentive to buy used cars that do not have this in them.

[NativePaul]

I knew they were smaller but I didn't realise how small US gallons are compared to imperial gallons, there's 4.5 litres to the imp gallon. Round here petrol is about 89 pence per litre or $4.95usd per US gallon, last summer before the economy crashed it was £1.26 / litre or about $10 / US gallon, the price is quite high and I believe about 90% is tax which is very high, but its a much fairer tax than paying per mile and encourages us to run more economical cars, I don' t know anyone that runs a 16mpg car, last year our town started introducing a new fleet of buses that are getting 23mpg or 19.7mpUSg. I don't like the idea of paying per mile, but if they have to, there has to be better ways of doing it than getting all big brother with GPS devices, over here our cars have to take a roadworthness check called a MOT by a government endorsed garage and one of the things they do is note the mileage on the MOT certificate to stop people clocking cars before sale, do you have something similar in the USofA? if so they could easily take the mileage done per year from that instead of spying on you (unless that was what they were after in the first place)

[Jeff Wohlt]

I read where the issue is dead. Omama will not have anything to do with it.

[AndyKunz]

over here our cars have to take a roadworthness check called a MOT by a government endorsed garage and one of the things they do is note the mileage on the MOT certificate to stop people clocking cars before sale, do you have something similar in the USofA?

Most states have annual (or so, New Jersey recently changed to 2-year intervals) safety inspections. They check mileage, safety features such as brakes and tires, and emissions.

Andy

[Jeff Wohlt]

Missouri has the same...1 or 2 yr inspections.

You will not see this bill come to life. We already pay plenty in road taxes in your gas...both state and federal. States can increase the tax on gas but it would need voter approval. It would also have sunset clause to it...5 yrs, etc. They also must tell you where and what the money will do. We have one here and it is for MODOT to improve more roads.

Now we get stimulus money and MODOT already has their billion planned for...go figure.

Stimulus money is a bad thing. Might help the states now but it will have to be paid at some time. Digs us out for now...typical of U.S. people. Fix now worry later.

[Steven Vaccaro]

Funny, every economist in the country is saying that we are in this bind because the US citizen is just to far in debt, So the feds go out and borrow money to pay for "stimulus". Does anyone else see an issue with this?

[tylerm]

Shows the difference internationally, over here in NZ new cars have to have a WOF(warrant of fitness) yearly, and older cars(can't remember how old) have to have a WOF every 6 months. NZ roads are pretty notorious for crashes though, our roads are very winding compared to say Aussie roads.

[Simon.O.]

We have two types of road tax.
Petrol has the road tax in the pump price
Diesel (me) has an charge based on mileage. I buy 10000km and when it is used up I buy more. This gets checked by officers at roadside checkpoints.

Tyler mentioned our roads, I will agree some of them are challenging to drive on and some are poorly laid out but there is no such thing as a dangerous road, just idiot drivers. I get to cut these knobs out of cars when they run out of skill at a critical moment.
Don't get me started on Auckland drivers

[tylerm]

Don't get me started on Auckland drivers

Bloody Jafa's!!!