Massachusetts may soon be unfriendly to drivers.

[M_Six]

Gov. Patrick proposes higher fees for gas guzzlers. The issue is that if it is successful in pushing people to more fuel efficient vehicles, the state would actually lose money as people bought less fuel. But he has a plan for that, too.

"But Patrick cautioned that even if lawmakers raise the gas tax, the state would probably collect less money in the future as drivers buy more fuel-efficient cars and need less gas. Because of that, he is also considering a replacement that would charge drivers a fee for every mile they drive."

Good deal, eh? Punish people who live outside the city yet work in the city. I'd be screwed if they started that here.

[e46e92love]

Originally Posted by M_Six

Gov. Patrick proposes higher fees for gas guzzlers. The issue is that if it is successful in pushing people to more fuel efficient vehicles, the state would actually lose money as people bought less fuel. But he has a plan for that, too.

"But Patrick cautioned that even if lawmakers raise the gas tax, the state would probably collect less money in the future as drivers buy more fuel-efficient cars and need less gas. Because of that, he is also considering a replacement that would charge drivers a fee for every mile they drive."

Good deal, eh? Punish people who live outside the city yet work in the city. I'd be screwed if they started that here.

Damn, that would suck!!!!

Cheers,
e46e92

[Kev]

I'm getting out of here......

[darkcloud]

If I had to pay a $.05 for every mile I drove I would owe $2,500.

They can go fuck themselves on this one. Somehow we went from the country founded to get away from taxes. To the country that tries to stick as many hands in your pocket as possible.

[ACZakka325i]

Originally Posted by darkcloud

If I had to pay a $.05 for every mile I drove I would owe $2,500.

They can go fuck themselves on this one. Somehow we went from the country founded to get away from taxes. To the country that tries to stick as many hands in your pocket as possible.

Someones gotta pay for those asking for the handouts....

Coincidentaly, I did the math on my per mile cost on my lease. It is now $1.29/mile to drive my M. If I lived there and it passed, it would be $1.34. OUCH!

[darkcloud]

Originally Posted by ACZakka325i

Someones gotta pay for those asking for the handouts....

Coincidentaly, I did the math on my per mile cost on my lease. It is now $1.29/mile to drive my M. If I lived there and it passed, it would be $1.34. OUCH!

The govt. need bitched slapped with all these handouts.

I just made up the $.05, seems reasonable though. To go higher then that the state would risk mass amounts of people moving.

[DougLikesBMW]

Wow that governor is a phaggot. Tar and feather that douche.

[M_Six]

I'd be forking over $2000/yr at $.05/mile. Glad I don't live there anymore.

[Brunotheboxer]

I'll just take the fuck'n sticker off my car if they pass this. Thankfully I live close to my work place.

[JME]

Wow, you mean he is considering a tax that actually taxes people on how much they drive, not just how expensive the car was?

How could this not be a good thing? If the commuters are clogging freeways and causing pollution, why not give them an incentive to take public transit, carpool or move closer to work? It sounds irresponsible to tax one vehicle for getting less miles per gallon if the owner is driving it less and consuming less gas overall.

I mean, I grew up and lived much of my life in California, and I would welcome such a law.

[jaiman]

Originally Posted by JME

Wow, you mean he is considering a tax that actually taxes people on how much they drive, not just how expensive the car was?

How could this not be a good thing? If the commuters are clogging freeways and causing pollution, why not give them an incentive to take public transit, carpool or move closer to work? It sounds irresponsible to tax one vehicle for getting less miles per gallon if the owner is driving it less and consuming less gas overall.

I mean, I grew up and lived much of my life in California, and I would welcome such a law.

I think the issue most people have with user pay taxes is that there isn't a concurrent reduction in broad based taxes.

I'd love to see a mileage based tax with a reduciton in my property taxes. However, even if you don't drive on roads, you still benefit from them.

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by JME

Wow, you mean he is considering a tax that actually taxes people on how much they drive, not just how expensive the car was?

How could this not be a good thing? If the commuters are clogging freeways and causing pollution, why not give them an incentive to take public transit, carpool or move closer to work? It sounds irresponsible to tax one vehicle for getting less miles per gallon if the owner is driving it less and consuming less gas overall.

I mean, I grew up and lived much of my life in California, and I would welcome such a law.

Well that works out peachy for you. For those of us who live in rural America, with my wife working in one town and me working in a town 55 miles away, public transportation is out of the question, as is moving. When I lived in MA I used to have a job that moved to different job sites all the time. Sometimes they were close by, sometimes they were out in western MA. If you work in the city and live in the burbs and mass transit is available, then you have a choice. Not everyone does, though.

Besides, how would they enforce this? The only way I could see them keeping track of mileage is during the yearly inspection (it is yearly, isn't it?).

Considering the mansion Deval owns and the tendency towards huge houses that cost a bundle to heat, maybe they should start charging a fee for square footage of your home. The mileage tax will hit the average blue collar worker harder than anyone else, especially folks in the trades.

[pdeacon]

^ Ya man - what a joke - or how about the 5% salary increase/raise our states legislation decided to keep in tact for themselves that went into effect this yr?
Voted in by us taxpayers years ago when things were different?
He couldnt "re-visit" this "increase" and adjust/halt accordingly due to Mass.'s current state budget crisis and layoff's? Course not... it would make sense.

I believe their's some ridic talk about a "chip" or sensor placed on registrations that will calculate mileage? Although Im not positive on that detail.... maybe someone on here knows more about it than I do....

[scollins]

Originally Posted by JME

Wow, you mean he is considering a tax that actually taxes people on how much they drive, not just how expensive the car was?

How could this not be a good thing? If the commuters are clogging freeways and causing pollution, why not give them an incentive to take public transit, carpool or move closer to work? It sounds irresponsible to tax one vehicle for getting less miles per gallon if the owner is driving it less and consuming less gas overall.

I mean, I grew up and lived much of my life in California, and I would welcome such a law.

I don't so much have a problem with a "pay to play" scenario, but the vast majority of these proposals in many states require the use of a GPS device. The Gov't installs the GPS device in your car to track your miles. Oh, and that also means they can record other driving information, and maybe even just issue speeding tickets based on that info. They even proposed that insurance rates could be tied into it, with variables like how fast you accelerate, or how hard you press the brakes. I'm not kidding about this stuff either. Do you really want a black box in your car, spying on your driving habits? NO THANK YOU!


Now, like I said, I don't so much mind the idea of those that use the systems and resources the most should pay for them. But the problem is that they don't generally intend to reduce the current burden on everyone, just layer on another tax or fee to the existing base. So now you pay just as much as before, PLUS an incremental fee for driving. And naturally, there will be exclusions and exemptions.

Besides, we already tax people more that drive less fuel efficient vehicles. They use more gas, which means they pay more gas tax. If you have a car that gets 40MPG, you are paying 1/4 the gas tax as someone driving an SUV getting 10MPG on a "per mile" basis.

[dkhm3]

What we are really doing is paying higher taxes to keep government worker's pensions, benefits, salaries, lifestyles.

My buddy works in a women's jail as their dentist for 186k/year. Plus really awesome government benefits and a pension that will pay him 75% of his HIGHEST salary for the rest of his life- retire at 55-60.

[Nikki]

Unrelated but I hate Boston right now. Seriously I'm pissed because I just got my Z the end of last year and I had to pay $400 in exise taxes to the city of Boston and now I get another bill for $400 for 2009. This is ridiculous. The worst part is I'm moving in a month and it specifically states that you have to pay even if you're moving and I don't think you get a credit at all if you move.

[M_Six]

One of the (very few) benefits of living out here in corn country is the low insurance rates. My Zed *and* my X5, both with full 100/300k coverage, cost me about a little less than $900/yr. Wifey's Civic with the same limits is $450/yr. That ain't hard to take. I was paying $900/yr just for my motorcycle when I lived in MA. No excise tax here either.

On the other hand, we get roads that are "paved" with oil and gravel that are chalk line straight and boring as can be. I need to drive 4 or 5 hours south to get to anything resembling twisties. So life is a trade-off. As long as they're not taxing me on mileage, I'll make do.

[Kev]

Originally Posted by Nikki

Unrelated but I hate Boston right now. Seriously I'm pissed because I just got my Z the end of last year and I had to pay $400 in exise taxes to the city of Boston and now I get another bill for $400 for 2009. This is ridiculous. The worst part is I'm moving in a month and it specifically states that you have to pay even if you're moving and I don't think you get a credit at all if you move.

The MA welfare system is wrong in so many levels, it's not even funny. That's why we are going broke.

[Z22Z]

wow man i couldn't imagine if something like that was passed in cali. assuming people actually drove less, how would the public transportation system handle all the extra passengers? when i lived in vegas, if i took the bus to work it would be roughly two hours each way assuming nothing went wrong but it would be fifteen minutes tops with a car. how are they expecting people to throw away that much time?

[e46e92love]

Originally Posted by Nikki

Unrelated but I hate Boston right now. Seriously I'm pissed because I just got my Z the end of last year and I had to pay $400 in exise taxes to the city of Boston and now I get another bill for $400 for 2009. This is ridiculous. The worst part is I'm moving in a month and it specifically states that you have to pay even if you're moving and I don't think you get a credit at all if you move.

Yup, Boston sucks to live. My brother moved there about 8 months ago for work and he absolutely hates it. Says he hates all the "massholes".....

Nice place to visit, wouldn't want to liver there......no offense to anyone.

Cheers,
e46e92

[number335]

Not a big deal. I would just pay it with that 4% raise I get a year.