[EDNY]

It seems that our politicians think their job is to come up with new tax schemes, spend the tax income, then look for more tax income, spend and repeat the scenario.

Here is another scenario:

Massachusetts Wants GPS Driving Tax, Too

For several years, authorities in Oregon have been pursuing a plan to put GPS units in every car in the state to track and tax drivers' mileage. Now, Massachusetts wants to get in on the act, and replace its gas tax with a mileage-based tax (via Boing Boing) generated by GPS units in cars. The state wants to ditch its gas tax because rising fuel efficiency is leading to decreasing tax revenue, so the new plan would instead charge drivers a quarter of a cent for each mile they drive. The state's governor is talking not just about boosting tax revenue, but says he likes ideas that are "faster, cheaper, simpler." It's not clear how replacing the current gas tax by forcing drivers to install GPS trackers in their cars and building an infrastructure to gather data from them, then assess and collect a mileage tax will be fast, cheap or simple. This doesn't even mention the myriad privacy concerns of giving state employees access to records of Massachusetts drivers' activity. This idea continually pops up, whether as a tax idea or a new way to charge for auto insurance -- but it never seems to hold any more value beyond a soundbite.

Source: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090217/1353483804.shtml

[chopper526]

When will the government ever get enough?! I know I have had enough from the government. I am starting to feel like an old wash rag, I keep getting used, rung out and used again.

[sixball]

Hey guys, lighten up remember we are at least a free society. So you can count your blessings I have compiled a complete list if thinks we are free to do without being taxed, paying a fee or being arrested.

1. breathe

[TFoch]

Living just 30 miles north of Taxachusetts, we here in New Hampshire hear all about it.  I like our state moto "Live Free Or Die".

[themoose]

I wonder how the system will be set up for when you drive out of Massachusetts and through another state. Will Mass send the revenue to Connecticut. Sounds like a total record keeping nightmare and hopefully someone with some intelligence will explain that to the know nothing politiions.  On second thought.... Massachusetts was the blueprint for Obamacare.

[trbomax]

A lot if not most new carsand light trucks already have the needed gps system.Ive heard that the dealer can pull up all kinds of info from the computer in them such as fastest speed traveled,highest engine temp, and so forth.Dont know for sure  if its true,but I wouldnt doubt it. Ive been told its how they track warrenty claims too.

[EDNY]

A lot if not most new carsand light trucks already have the needed gps system.Ive heard that the dealer can pull up all kinds of info from the computer in them such as fastest speed traveled,highest engine temp, and so forth.Dont know for sure  if its true,but I wouldnt doubt it. Ive been told its how they track warrenty claims too.

TRUE

My wife just received an email from GM that her Chevy Traverse needed 4 lbs of air in the back tires and that the engine had misfired and we can have OnStar do a free scan to determine the cause.

I did my own scan...it was multiple misfires (no hard codes) probably from moisture..it sat for a couple of weeks while she was in Florida.

Ed

[themoose]

When I was with GM we had a car that the driver claimed had an air bag deployment while she was driving down the road and caused her to have an accident. GM had their team of legal experts and an engineer pull data from the ECM,BCM and various other control modules on the vehicle and I saw some but not all of the data. They knew how fast the vehicle was traveling,what angle the steering wheel was at,whether the brakes were applied before or after the air bag deployed,the g force at the time of deployment , the yaw rate,,throttle angle, speed of each wheel,engine RPM and a whole lot of other data that the engineer said he couldn't interpret in the field but that could be decoded with more sophisticated equipment back at GM. He also stated that the extent of the information that the system was able recorded was not something that even he was allowed to know. OnStar can monitor and on many cases remotely control a number of function of your vehicle and in cases where a car has been stolen can find the location of the vehicle for law enforcement personnel. The new GM tire pressure monitoring systems not only measure tire pressure but know the serial number of each tire and where it is located on the vehicle. When you change of rotate the tires the system need to be updated with the correct information.Can you say BIG BROTHER ? And you wonder why I enjoy old cars.

Moose

[YBNORML]

This is wrong on so many levels. The taxing is ridiculous. The rest is scary!

[trbomax]

 All my vehicles are old....... newest is the 04 grand cherokee that nancy drives.Its got too much electronic BS on it,but no gps.

[sixball]

The scary thing about the old cars is the movement to make anything over a certain age "historic" or "specialty" vehicles with limited use. By the time they are done screwing with the gas they will all die anyway. Do we really need any more laws? Isn't it all pretty much covered?