- The latest proposal by government to collect tax revenue
may seem out of this world - that's because it is.
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- The state of Oregon is considering the use of satellite
technology to charge taxes based on how much mileage you drive your car.
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- The Road User Fee Task Force set up by lawmakers last
year plans to ask the 2003 session to authorize testing of a vehicle-mileage
tax, reports the Associated Press.
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- Oregon was the first state back in 1919 to adopt a gas
tax, and today officials expect revenues to flatten as gas mileage improves
and more hybrid cars come on line.
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- Jim Whitty, the task force administrator, says his group
is looking at a per-mile charge of up to 1.25 cents to generate funds comparable
to the current gas tax.
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- "We also have to have a way to track mileage only
within the state," Whitty told the AP. This rules out basing the fee
on odometer readings, which would include out-of-state driving.
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- "Technology has improved to the degree that this
can be done, with an electronic device," he said.
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- The device in each car would be linked to a Global Positioning
Satellite system, or GPS, which allows pinpoint navigation by bouncing
signals off satellites.
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- The task force hopes to organize a test of this system
if lawmakers approve, checking to see if the system even works, then conducting
a yearlong evaluation.
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- There are several options for actually collecting fees.
One is to send vehicle owners a monthly bill, another is to outfit gas
stations so they can read vehicle transponders and collect the tax at fueling
stops.
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- If you think the new method would do away with the tax
on fuel, think again. In assessing the new levy, drivers would get credit
for gas tax already paid.
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- To protect drivers' privacy, using the system to track
cars in real time would be illegal. New cars would be required to have
the GPS technology. Owners of older cars would be allowed to take part
by retrofitting them.
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- A final decision on the proposal is not expected to come
until the 2005 legislative session at the earliest.
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- © 2002 WorldNetDaily.com, Inc.
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- http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=30246
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