Obama administration floats plan to tax cars based on miles driven, could use GPS tracking

Obama administration floats plan to tax cars based on miles driven, could use GPS tracking

Technology Blog

I wrote several weeks ago about how the state of Texas is considering using GPS trackers to tax electric cars.

Since electric cars, by definition, don't use gasoline and hence their drivers don't pay gasoline taxes but still put wear and tear on the roads, it's fair to find some other way to tax those drivers.

But the idea of using GPS trackers to calculate taxes on a per-mile rather than a per-gallon basis creates all sort of privacy issues.

Well, guess what? The Obama administration is looking into the idea, too.

The Hill reports on an early draft from the White House of a transportation authorization bill that calls for the creation of a Surface Transportation Revenue Alternatives Office within the Federal Highway Administration.

The new office would be tasked without looking at new ways to raise tax revenue, including, as the proposal says in section 2218, "a mileage-based user fee system and other systems, including those suitable for vehicles using fuel not taxable under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986."

Granted, it's just a draft proposal, and might never even be submitted to Congress. Nor does the draft proposal explicitly mention GPS tracking.

But The Hill notes that:

News of the draft follows a March Congressional Budget Office report that supported the idea of taxing drivers based on miles driven.

Among other things, CBO suggested that a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax could be tracked by installing electronic equipment on each car to determine how many miles were driven; payment could take place electronically at filling stations.

I wouldn't be surprised if GPS tracking devices become mandatory in new cars within two or three years.

That issue aside, another thing that caught my eye in that draft proposal (section 5213) was the mention of something called "5.9 GHz vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications systems deployment."

What's that?

Well, apparently the feds are researching a wireless network for vehicle communication at the 5.9 gigahertz range that would be used for a variety of safety measures.

For example, here's a presentation from the New York State Department of
Transportation in 2008 of some of the potential capabilities of such a system.

Interesting.

I wonder if a new per-mile tax might be integrated into such a system.

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