Interesting article today in the Post- as cars get better and better mileage, the revenue collected from gas taxes is dropping. In one way that's a very good thing- the less gas we use, the less CO2 and other greenhouse gases we emit. However, travel by car has other costs that usually aren't directly paid for by motorists, such as maintenance of the roads themselves. Until recently, this was paid for by a gas tax, but as people drive increasingly efficient cars, gas tax revenues are dropping, and governments are having a harder time covering the cost of road upkeep.
Most people agree that the fairest way to pay for roads is to tax drivers, so that those who a) cause the damage and b) benefit from the upkeep are those who pay the most to keep the roads in good condition. A new proposal seeks to do so by having people pay a fee at the gas pump related to how many miles they've traveled. There are still kinks to be worked out, such as how to increase fees for larger vehicles (if you have a Prius, you want to pay less than your neighbor with her Hummer) and how to add in congestion fees. (Congestion fees are added costs tacked on in some places basically for contributing to traffic jams in busy places- you might pay a fee to enter a "downtown" zone during certain times of day, for example.)
Another interesting issue is that the easiest way to track people (by putting GPS's on cars, basically) creates privacy concerns. Unsurprisingly a lot of people don't want the government tracking them all the time! The question then becomes how to get the information needed to fairly assess the tax without violating people's privacy. Tough question!
On a related note, I was pretty disappointed this past summer when the EZ pass program became more expensive. The decision was made to add on monthly fees because the program wasn't paying for itself. I think it's such a good idea to have those devices in cars, both because it keeps traffic moving and because it makes for healthier babies by reducing air pollution. Instead, the budget crunch meant that they basically asked a bunch of people to give them up, and thousands of people did so. Giving everyone an EZ pass and installing lots more gates seems like it would accomplish what they're trying to do with the mileage tax, no? I wonder if that's on the table....
