Black Box Device
Police Issue
Due to higher mileage automobiles, the American Highways Trust Fund is going bankrupt. Law makers are seeking a new source of revenue of taxing motorists based on the miles they drive instead of the amount of gallons of gasoline they purchase.
Background
The Highway Trust fund was established in 1956 by the Highway Revenue Act. Currently, motorists are taxed at approximately 18.4 cents per gallon of gasoline as well as other taxed items (annual tax on heavy vehicle use, a load rating-based tax on heavy truck tires and a retail sales tax on truck and trailer sales). The revenue is then deposited into the Highway Trust Fund and later allocated to states for their highway programs in accordance with legislative formulas. The Highway Trust Fund is currently broke.
The current method a paying for highway construction/repairs is becoming outdated and cannot generate enough revenue to cover expenses as automobiles miles per gallon are increasing. Law makers have turned to a device currently known as the Black Box as a new means of revenue. The Black Box device will track every mile a motorist drives and that information will be transmitted to administrators for taxable purposes.
Key Concern
Those apposing the Black Box device, such as the American Civil Liberty Union (ACLU) are concerned with the Government using the device for other means than taxation. They are concerned with the device being used as a means of tracking the movement of citizens.
Policy Alternatives.
a. Alternative means of tracking miles driven besides GPS tracking.
1. Ex. Mileage upload via modem.
b. Increase the current established tax rate.
c. Increase tax on hybrid/electric vehicles.
d. Play a flat fee in absence of th...
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...torist will use per gallon of gasoline. However, new technology has made this average miles per gallon an unknown number. Motorists can no longer equally be taxed on a system where some consumers use 10 gallons of gas a month while others use 30 gallons of gas a month if they both use the highway the same amount of miles. The public service of a highway should be equally taxed and the best current alternative is to measure each consumers use through miles driven. The issue of not wanting to be tracked by the government is, in my opinion lacking. Most people today have GPS devices on their cell phones which can be tracked and I do not hear any complaints about the government tracking them through those means. To conclude my argument for the Black Box I resort back to Adam Smith's first maxim where he states that people should pay based on the benefits they receive.
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