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State to Consider Mileage Tax
North County Times
By: Dave Downey
Staff Writer
Scott
Barnett, a former San
Diego County tax-watchdog
group leader and former
Del Mar councilman,
said a flat fee is
unfair.
"You're going
to give people an
incentive to buy
gas-guzzlers," Barnett
said.
And as for the need
to get revenue from
vehicles that use
non-gasoline fuels,
Barnett said, "Why
don't they just tax
those other cars?" |
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Picture this: You're cruising down the
freeway and the fuel tank is on "E," so
you pull off at the next exit to fill
up. When you go to pay at the gas station
counter, your bill includes tax based
on the number of miles you drove since
your last fillup.
The mileage is automatically calculated
by a transponder in your car that transmits
the total to a machine inside the station.
Sound far-fetched? It might not be.
A state commission studying ways to
thin Sacramento's bulky bureaucracy suggested
last week that California move toward
replacing the gasoline tax with a mileage
tax, as a way to boost sagging transportation
revenues at a time when rapid population
growth is straining the state highway
system.
The commission recommended following
the lead of a task force in Oregon that
wants to test the concept of a mileage
tax in one of its cities, Eugene, in
2005.
James Whitty, manager of the Oregon
Department of Transportation's innovations
program, said if the yearlong Eugene
experiment is successful and the state
Legislature later agrees ---- probably
in 2007 ---- to pursue the program, Oregon
would become the first state in the country
to go to such a tax.
Under the program, all 2,000 Oregon
stations would be equipped with computers
for calculating the tax and all new cars
would have transponders to track and
report miles driven.
The idea of a mileage tax was one of
scores of recommendations contained in
a 2,500-page report produced last week
by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's California
Performance Review Commission. Besides
calling for a sweeping overhaul of state
government, the report proposed initiatives
that aim to increase program efficiency
and keep money flowing into state coffers.
Joan Borucki, the commission's infrastructure
team leader, said there is growing concern
about the bite being taken out of gas-tax
revenues because of last year's move
to mix gasoline with ethanol, which is
not taxed, and the growing popularity
of electric cars and gas-electric hybrids.
And hydrogen vehicles may not be far
behind.
"Gas itself could be going away
in the future," Borucki said.
Consequently, she said, "We've
got to start looking at an alternative,
or a replacement, for the gasoline tax.
The mileage tax is not so much a way
to increase revenue, as it is a way to
maintain what we have now."
However, the trail Oregon is blazing
on the issue is troubling to many in
California.
Whitty said the Oregon task force recommended
a flat tax for everyone, rather than
one that rewards fuel economy and the
varying gasoline taxes motorists pay
now. The panel proposed charging a fee
that would generate the same amount of
money as the existing 24-cent-a-gallon
tax, he said. Based on average gas mileage
of 20 miles per gallon. motorists would
pay 1.2 cents per mile.
Whitty said the panel chose to set a
flat rate because the tax, philosophically,
is based on the notion that most vehicles,
no matter how efficient, tend to occupy
about the same space on the road. And
he said panel members prefer to reward
fuel economy other ways.
But Ron Roberts, a Temecula councilman
and president of the Southern California
Association of Governments Regional Council,
said a flat rate would penalize commuters
who drive dozens of miles from their
homes in Riverside County to jobs in
San Diego, Orange and Los Angeles counties.
"They're already paying more gas
taxes than anybody else, and to make
them suffer more by paying this vehicle-miles-traveled
tax instead is ludicrous," Roberts
said.
He said many Riverside County commuters
choose high-mileage compact cars for
the very reason that they save money
on gasoline and gas taxes.
Roberts added that the regional council,
as it formulated a new regional transportation
plan several months ago for a booming
six-county region of 17 million residents,
overwhelmingly rejected the idea of a
mileage tax as a way to raise money for
new freeways and train systems. The Southern
California association makes plans for
Riverside, Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura,
San Bernardino and Imperial counties.
Scott Barnett, a former San Diego County
tax-watchdog group leader and former
Del Mar councilman, said a flat fee is
unfair.
"You're going to give people an
incentive to buy gas-guzzlers," Barnett
said.
And as for the need to get revenue from
vehicles that use non-gasoline fuels,
Barnett said, "Why don't they just
tax those other cars?"
Lynne Baker, attorney for the Endangered
Habitats League in San Diego, said a
flat fee also ignores the fact that big
trucks cause much more wear and tear
on roads than a compact car driving the
same miles.
"It probably falls short of trying
to address the true impacts on the roads
by a variety of vehicles," Baker
said.
Diana Rosas, who drives 50 miles from
her home in Menifee to her job in Oceanside,
said a mileage tax probably would not
work here.
"Maybe it would work in a state
where people's commutes aren't 50 miles
one way," Rosas said.
The first of five public hearings planned
around the state on the California Performance
Review report is set for 10 a.m. to 3
p.m. Friday at UC Riverside's University
Lecture Hall, 900 University Ave., Riverside.
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