San Francisco riders could be forced to pay by the mile

12 comments on "San Francisco riders could be forced to pay by the mile"

• condershire
  July 21, 2012 at 9:37 pm
  

  And I wonder if Randy Rentschler has considered the various other consequences associated with employment of this technology, you know, the indirect ones from the implementation of a tracking system on a large scale...
  
  If you've been paying attention lately, you'll know what I am referring to...
  
  Somehow, private industry will get a hold of this data as well, no doubt using it "for our own good"...
  
  How do you know when your government is lying to you? When their mouths are open...
• Badlands-4-2
  July 21, 2012 at 10:05 pm
  

  What about people that visit San Fransisco? Are they going to require me to install this GPS at the city limits so I can drive on thier streets? Just from a logistics point of view it sounds difficult to implement, not to mention the civil liberties issues.
• Biker Dash
  July 22, 2012 at 5:52 pm
  

  Excuse THE C***ED MOTHERF***ING H***, but thats rather rather f***ed up! It is bad enough that taxes and prices across the board have been going up WAY faster than wages have been, a lot of people are getting laid off, and now we're supposed to pay out the azz for health insurance that will only cover a fraction of what it used to (and pay a good deal more for it as well), but now, this city wants to tax EVERYONE even more, and if they happen to have to commute every day, that tax is SEVERELY going to add up.
  
  Personally, I would like to spend an hour or two beating the ribs in on whomever it was that came up with this scheme with a 27mm wrench!
• allen_okc
  July 26, 2012 at 11:32 am
  

  its a shame when russia and china are starting to look like a better place to live...
  
  and we all know that the government would never lie to us...
  
  i think if San Francisco let the people vote for the new tax law and not the so called transportation department, they would find what a joke for them to even suggest it...
  
  its time to start firing government officials...
• ReconLdr
  July 26, 2012 at 12:53 pm
  
  Originally Posted by Dodsfall
  The San Francisco Bay area could soon require all vehicles install a GPS tracking device which will monitor their movements in order to pay a tax based on road usage. The proposed Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) tax could be as much as 10 cents a mile.
  
  A study that will determine the feasibility of the measure was discussed last night by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments. The goal is to create a tax that will average out to about $1300 per year per vehicle as proposed. $15 million each day would be gathered.
  
  The proposed tax will cover any travel on the Bay area's nine-county highways and residential neighborhoods.
  
  The concern of unintended consequences has also been brought up. Privacy concerns are chief among them. Randy Rentschler, a member of Transportation Commission says that government can be trusted with the information. “We’re not interested in where they go. We’re only interested in the amount they travel,” Rentschler is reported as saying. “But for some folks, that’s a distinction without a difference. Anytime you talk about getting information from people, whenever that conversation comes up, it’s another hurdle you have to overcome.”
  
  Are we getting ever closer to George Orwell's vision of Big Brother?
  
  [The Blaze]
  Ummm.... Don't residents of Kalifornia already pay road tax just like the rest of us??? They already pay $.69 per gallon of gas and even more for diesel... I guess that's not enough!!!!
  
  ETA: Source http://www.gaspricewatch.com/web_gas_taxes.php
• cbdallas
  July 26, 2012 at 12:55 pm
  

  I wonder how the Association of Bay Area Governments would like it if EVERYONE just left their cars at home and started walking up and down the highways to and from work, to and from the store, etc. Literally millions of people clogging up the highways on foot. Most people, of course would never make it to work, or would be arriving very late, and this in turn would cause a complete collapse of the local economy.
  
  The government has already been pushing us to the breaking point. This is pushing too far.
  
  If they need money so badly, how about taking the time & effort to weed out the dead wood in every segment of the government & slashing a few exorbitant salaries. We all know there's plenty of both.
• RobMoore
  July 26, 2012 at 2:44 pm
  

  If they want to charge people by the mile, they should just raise their gas tax.
  
  (I'd prefer they cut spending, but think about who were talking about)
• jrw69
  July 27, 2012 at 7:27 pm
  

  If they already pay a road tax how can this even be considered since that would be double taxation which is against federal law or are they willing to give up federal money for roads because this would make more money?? No wonder there is an exodus from Cali.
• Dodsfall
  July 27, 2012 at 7:36 pm
  
  Originally Posted by jrw69
  If they already pay a road tax how can this even be considered since that would be double taxation which is against federal law...
  Double taxation is not against the law. Neither is triple or even quadruple, which when you think about it, most everyone pays. You get taxed when you make the money (Income Tax), you get taxed when you spend the money (Sales Tax), you get taxed on the things you buy with the money (Property Tax), you get taxed when you invest the money (Capital Gains Tax), you get taxed when you use what you buy (Vehicle Registration and Fuel Tax), and you get taxed on what's left when you die (Estate Tax).
• jrw69
  July 28, 2012 at 9:56 am
  

  Double taxation is taxing the same thing twice, you are talking about different taxes. The same jurisdiction cannot charge twice for the same tax. But going back and re-reading your post it looks as though it is a locality tax which obviously is different from the state tax for road use, so I guess it can happen.