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States Want to Follow You Around to Tax Your Mileage

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When states decided to pay for their infrastructure with gas taxes and then push incentives to get drivers into electric vehicles that don’t use gasoline, the obvious happened, gas tax revenues fell. Now states are looking for new ways to tax drivers. Per-mile taxes appear to be the most popular choice. One problem with mileage taxation is a complete loss of privacy to the state. Ken Martin reports for Fox Business:

States are looking for ways to keep the funds coming in order to maintain the nation’s roads.

Gas taxes have been used for more than a century for the purpose.

The problem that has developed is those taxes are generating less each year due to inflation, fuel efficiency and the rise of electric cars.

States are experimenting with various ideas that could eventually replace those taxes.

One proposal that seems to be gaining in popularity would be to charge drivers by the mile instead of the gallon.

Other ideas that have been presented include taxing electricity from public vehicle charging stations.

Another is to tack charges onto door-to-door package deliveries.

States are now weighing whether to start making the programs mandatory.

In 2015, Oregon began a pilot program charging motorists by the distance their vehicle travels rather than the gas it guzzles.

To participate, drivers plug a device into their vehicle and create an account to capture mileage data.

Action Line: Does anyone want their state more involved in their lives? Per-mile taxes may be more efficient and better targeted than per-gallon taxation, but state governments can’t be allowed to turn the system into a virtual Panopticon for monitoring the movements of residents. Click here to sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter and become a Survivor.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West (RIP JB) and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.
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