Several states, for now, are considering a mileage tax that the federal government would levy based on information sent to it via a little black box attached to your car. The idea is that the more you use the highways and bridges the more you should pay for its upkeep.
This proposal has made for some strange bedfellows. It seems the environmentalists, as well as the Libertarians, are on board with this idea.
The federal gas tax of 18.5cents/gallon would be rescinded and then motorists would pay for only how much they drive. The eco crowd likes it because it encourages people to drive less, while the Libertarians like me support it because it replaces the heavy-handed federal gas tax with what amounts to a consumption tax. The less you drive the less you pay.
The one caveat I would have would be that the box cannot report all kinds of personal tracking and speed data to some massive federal bureaucracy staffed with hundreds of overpaid dicks who're looking for a reason to keep up with my activities. The mileage data would have to be limited to mileage alone, nothing else.
In face an agency wouldn't even have to exist for this to work. They could just have the GPS boxes report to one computer and the monthy tax bill be sent out automatically. They could hire one nerd to keep the computer running, no bureaucratic behemoth to fund. That way, all the money actually goes to roads and bridges and not the administrative costs of paying bureaucrats to have lavish conventions in Hawaii.
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