Washington State Transportation Commission proposing a pay-by-mile road usage fee.
 

Here is the article: http://www.king5.com/story/news/loca...mile/20134161/. I know it won't do much, but I left some feedback for the Washington State Transportation Commission on this website: http://www.wstc.wa.gov/ContactUs/feedback.htm, I hope you can do the same.

I think this is a horrible idea, but I'm not so good at conveying my thoughts into words. Here are some logical responses to the proposal: http://www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comm...commission_is/.

I honestly think a per mile road tax is a far better idea than the gas tax given the number of electric and hybrid vehicles that get off free. I would only support it given the following criteria...

1. Charges based on vehicle weight, no reason I should have to pay the same amount for my FR-S as someone who daily drives a fucking F-350. Road wear is directly proportional to vehicle weight.

2. No GPS tracking. Ever. It's a small step from "we're only interested in the number of miles driven on public roads" to speeding tickets in the mail. I'm not even going to touch the subject of privacy concerns.

3. Money from the tax MUST go to road upkeep. Far too often the revenue from the gas tax goes to fund things totally unrelated to transportation.

i think 1 should be implemented in the cost of tabs, however i do not agree with a mileage tax for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, how do they know how much to charge you without having a GPS tracking device in the car (which i'm not down with, i had to do that for cheaper insurance rates and it kinda sucked), do you pay for the amount of miles you drove last year? Who's going to check to make sure you aren't lying about how much you've driven?

Second, replacing the gas tax with this would mean that the state would no longer collect money on out of state drivers who fuel up here and thus reduce the potential for revenue.

Every time the State or any other governmental body wants to introduce a new fee or tax and suggests that its constituents will pay less RED FLAGS should be waving. There has never been a time when new taxes have reduced the tax payer's burden.


Several years ago the voters of Washington state voted to repel the vehicle license tax. The tax was based on the vehicles age and purchase price. In 1998 my wife's new Toyota Avalon cost over $600 per year to license. After the tax was repealed it was $40. The state has been trying to find ways to recover that income since.


As a user of the roads in this state, I understand I have a responsibility to pay for what I use. But, I have enough cameras, microphones, etc. pointed at me. The state doesn't need a new tax. They need to adjust rates on current taxes. A new tax creates the need for more administration, if not infrastructure. Costs rise and less of our money goes to the purpose for which it was intended. It just gets eaten up in the bureaucracy..

Require a government GPS device to track my car for the purposes of collecting money and I will find another State to live in. I'm already sick of the rain, I'm pretty sure I'd get sick of an Orwellian Surveillance state as well.

But hey, they gotta pay for tunnel in downtown Seattle that will never get finished!

I think at this point people expect the government to provide so much that the only direction things can go is higher taxes :(

A completely nonsensical and idiotic thing to do. Who runs the government, the people or the thugs? You know that the insurance companies, the finance companies, the auto manufacturers and the police are all going to abuse this. Also, we already get taxed to all hell (at least the high income producers). All I can be thankful for is that there are many places to live.

I'm in Oregon just across the river. Before I'd vote for a new tax, I'd demand they quit siphoning off the existing tax revenues associated with transportation, namely, the gas tax. They can piss off if they think I'm going to put a GPS in my car.

I just get so tired of these f'n politicians spending faster than they can bring it in, so by all means, just raise the taxes so they have more to spend. Assholes, the rest of us live on a budget, I don't see any harm in them doing so also.

BUMP:

https://www.autoweek.com/news/green-...sales-by-2030/

WA State looking at legislation to ban, not just sales but registrations of vehicles with Internal Combustion Engines starting 2030.

You wouldn't be able to buy a MY 2030 or newer out of state and register it in WA. This would run tangentially with the tax on mileage.

I don't see it becoming a reality in it's current wording though.

This would never. Ever. Pass. Clearly the person drafting it has never been outside King County