Say Anything Blog

Ronald Reagan once made a joke about the government’s approach to policy: “If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And If it stops moving, subsidize it.”  Well it appears as though in Oregon (much like in North Carolina) they’re taking that “if it moves, tax it” part seriously.

A year ago, the Oregon Department of Transportation announced it had demonstrated that a new way to pay for roads — via a mileage tax and satellite technology — could work.

Now Gov. Ted Kulongoski says he’d like the legislature to take the next step.

As part of a transportation-related bill he has filed for the 2009 legislative session, the governor says he plans to recommend “a path to transition away from the gas tax as the central funding source for transportation.”

What that means is explained on the governor’s website:

“As Oregonians drive less and demand more fuel-efficient vehicles, it is increasingly important that the state find a new way, other than the gas tax, to finance our transportation system.”

I don’t understand why, if people are driving less and using lighter, more fuel efficient vehicles, the transportation spending needs to stay at the same level.  Or even increase.  It sounds suspiciously to me like Oregon, like a lot of other places, has been spending its fuel tax revenue on decidedly non-transportation budget items.

But taxing movement like this is problematic for a number of reasons.  First, it requires you to install a tracking device in your vehicle that lets the government track all the places you go.  Where’s our privacy?

Second, unlike the fuel tax, a movement tax would remove the incentive for driving more fuel efficient vehicles at least as far as the tax itself goes.  If we’re taxing movement instead of consumption, a Prius is going to be taxed at the same rate as a Hummer despite the wildly different impact the two vehicles have on road/highway infrastructure.  Is that really the direction we want to go in?

Third, how much is this going to cost to enforce?  You can’t dodge the fuel tax easily.  Everyone needs gas to run their car, and you aren’t likely to find a black market supplier selling gas tax-free.  But how long until some geek out there figures out how to hack these GPS units to dodge paying the tax?  How much is it going to cost to send each taxpayer a bill for his/her movement?  How much will it cost taxpayers to install GPS units to comply with state law?

GPS tracking is a bad, bad idea.  But something tells me that the powers that be are gonna go ahead with it anyway.