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2005-02-15 Home Front: Tech

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Posted by Steve 2005-02-15 1:05:26 PM|| || Front Page|| [11131 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 If you drive a car, Iâll tax the street,
If you try to sit, Iâll tax your seat,
If you get too cold, Iâll tax the heat,
If you take a walk, Iâll tax your feet.

Posted by 11A5S 2005-02-15 2:05:19 PM|| 2005-02-15 2:05:19 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 College student Jayson Just commutes an odometer-spinning 2,000 miles a month. As CBS News Correspondent Sandra Hughes reports, his monthly gas bill once topped his car payment. "I was paying about $500 a month," says Just.

I managed to have an apartment two doors from campus for that much. That included meals and utilities.

What's this guy's problem?

Posted by Robert Crawford 2005-02-15 2:07:49 PM|| [http://www.kloognome.com/] 2005-02-15 2:07:49 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 Seems his problem is similar to my two apartment mates when I was working in Portland, Oregon back in 1991. We lived 1/2 mile from the office we worked in. I walked, they both drove in separate cars. When I aked why they drove instead of walking they both told me, "Because I can drive. I don't have to walk". Saving wear and tear on their cars and saving money on gas didn't enter the equation for them.

Posted by Deacon Blues 2005-02-15 2:18:22 PM|| 2005-02-15 2:18:22 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 This is bad in so many ways.

Oh, sure, they'll "replace" the gas tax. Then, they will "need" to add the gas tax back on to fund some idiotic light rail plan or something. It happens everywhere. All the states that added an income tax to reduce property or sales taxes soon had those taxes right back where they were.

Perhaps they shouldn't raid the gas tax money to pay for other things. In California about 15 years ago, a proposal to limit the use of gas tax money to just transportation (not just roads, but anything that could be called "transportation") was defeated after a huge ad campaign to "save our schools!" Gas taxes go into the general fund, you see, so whichever lobby is greatest gets the money.

Big-brother. "We have you travelling to Nogales 5 times last month. That's considered possible drug activity, so we are going to impound your bank account while we check you out. You can apply in court in 6 months to try to get it back. Oh, and you were doing 76 in a 75 zone, so we're going to tack the speeding fine on to your tax."

Interstate commerce. What if you commute from New Jersey to New York every day, but always fill up in New Jersey. How does New York get its share of the money? I've driven from Michigan to Indiana through Ohio, but never bought gas in Ohio. Will they send Me a bill? Should Michigan and Indiana be able to claim those miles as "theirs?"

Safety. It's very late, you are driving home from a long trip and stop off for enough gas to get you home. You only have so much cash and maybe you don't believe in credit cards. The pump says you have to pay $20 in tax before it will sell you any gasoline. There are no ATMs for miles around.

OTOP, I might as well buy that Magnum SRT-8. I won't pay any more tax than if I had a Prius.

Posted by jackal 2005-02-15 2:24:10 PM|| [http://home.earthlink.net/~sleepyjackal/index.html] 2005-02-15 2:24:10 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 "First they try to force us into these hybrids use less gas to save the planet. Then they tax you more for using less gas to save the roads they don't what you driving on in the first place."

This reminds me of when I was a young'n in the Fey Area. A drought had been going on in California (DROUGHT! END OF THE WORLD! SKY FALLING!), and East Bay MUD told everyone to conserve water or else they would come take your firstborn child and shoot your dog for good measure. So, needless to say, we all conserved like the Dickens. Dead lawns, water collecting buckets in showers for flushing toilets, etc., we did it all. The response from East Bay MUD when the drought was over? They raised our water rates because we weren't using enough water and they couldn't make a profit.

As for the GPS/odometer thing, that's so un-Merkin I don't know where to begin. Oh yeah I do! I went out and registered as a Republican yesterday! (Yea4me!)

Posted by Dr August Balls of Nice 2005-02-15 2:43:41 PM|| 2005-02-15 2:43:41 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 this is bad in so many ways, many of which you guys already touched on. The proposals now in SD area are to build "HOV" (multi-passenger car pool lanes) and allow paying 1, 2, and, yes, 3 -passenger cars to use them via Fastrack pay/toll. The idea is to subsidize the bus service (which only covers 20% of their cost via paid fares) with these tolls. As I pointed out, much to the other task force member's displeasure, you're now building freeway lanes with public gas tax money and then charging them additional tolls to use them, in order to subsidize a non-economically feasible alternative. *crickets*. LOL

Posted by Frank G 2005-02-15 2:45:54 PM|| 2005-02-15 2:45:54 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 And just when you thought it wouldn't get any funnier; the testicularly-challenged Washington State Legislature is considering a 6.5% 'vanity' tax on plastic surgery, botox and the like, rather than face up (no pun intended) to budget problems and cut spending. I can see it now: A car crossing into WA. from another state or Canada: " Excuse me miss, but I am the booby police. Are these perky breats yours? Do you have papers"
And for guys who get 'enhanced,' maybe a new version of a 'pole tax...'

Posted by USN, retired 2005-02-15 2:59:24 PM|| 2005-02-15 2:59:24 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 If they want to see high voter turnout and a bunch of politicians thorwn into the street and the law replaced at the first possible elections they should really consider this great idea.

Since politicians are into self-preservation this is all foolishness.

Posted by rjschwarz 2005-02-15 3:32:13 PM|| [http://rjschwarz] 2005-02-15 3:32:13 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 Article: College student Jayson Just commutes an odometer-spinning 2,000 miles a month. As CBS News Correspondent Sandra Hughes reports, his monthly gas bill once topped his car payment. "I was paying about $500 a month," says Just.

Assuming that gas costs $2 a gallon, this kid would have to be driving a car with a fuel consumption rating of 8 mpg, to be paying $500 for just 2000 miles. Even a Ford Expedition doesn't use up gas at that rate.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2005-02-15 3:37:49 PM|| [http://timurileng.blogspot.com] 2005-02-15 3:37:49 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 Most states require long-haul truckers to buy gas in their states already and have for a loooong time.

Posted by Deacon Blues 2005-02-15 3:41:00 PM|| 2005-02-15 3:41:00 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 11A5S--

Quote attributed to Teddy Kennedy?

Posted by BigEd 2005-02-15 3:50:21 PM|| 2005-02-15 3:50:21 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 Ted's lucky we didn't have these hybrid cars back in '69. He might've been electrocuted when it hit the water.

Posted by tu3031 2005-02-15 4:03:50 PM|| 2005-02-15 4:03:50 PM|| Front Page Top

#13 Perhaps they shouldn't raid the gas tax money to pay for other things.

This is the problem in a nutshell. Gas tax money can and does go elsewhere besides road upkeep/contruction. Quite frankly, it seems to go everywhere BUT road upkeep/construction.

Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2005-02-15 4:07:25 PM|| 2005-02-15 4:07:25 PM|| Front Page Top

#14 tu4031 - Laura Ingraham, the rascal, played tapes today of all recent water metaphors used by His Excellency, A. Filobuster Bagogas.

...including yesterday, when he used the expression, "Dead in the water". I wonder if the Kopeckne family cringes when they hear that.

Owing to the circumstances, this is the ultimate in bad taste. But Teddy-boy is the definition of bad taste, so why am I surprised!

Posted by BigEd 2005-02-15 4:17:23 PM|| 2005-02-15 4:17:23 PM|| Front Page Top

#15 In the olden days, tax-by-the-mile was known as "toll roads." No modern technology required -- you are given a price card when you get on, and pay the appropriate toll when you get off. Even easier and lower tech, you pay a set fee when you get on, and another when you get off. Big deal.

The highways in New York State still operate that way, because of the high expense of maintaining the road surfaces due to the harsh Upstate/Western New York winters.

Posted by trailing wife 2005-02-15 4:46:52 PM|| 2005-02-15 4:46:52 PM|| Front Page Top

#16 anyone evefr drove any roads in South Carolina? The roads suck anyway

Posted by Thraing Hupoluper1864 2005-02-15 5:30:00 PM|| 2005-02-15 5:30:00 PM|| Front Page Top

#17 ZF -- Excellent point! I drove from Cincinnati to New Orleans and back and didn't spend that much on gas.

Posted by Robert Crawford 2005-02-15 5:40:44 PM|| [http://www.kloognome.com/] 2005-02-15 5:40:44 PM|| Front Page Top

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