http://www.oregonlive.com/commuting/index.ssf/2015/02/oregon_mileage_tax_orego_websi.html
"1. You can sign up to be a road-tax guinea pig, er, volunteer starting July 1, 2015. Initially, the program will be limited to vehicles under 10,000 pounds. It will allow only 1,500 vehicles that get 17 miles per gallon or less and 1,500 in the 17-to-22-mpg range."
5,000 is the total volunteer program. This is 3,000. Obviously there is more but what that may be is not stated.
The proposed usage charge is 1.5 cents per mile flat rate for everyone. The Oregon state gas tax is 30 cents per gallon.
17 miles x 1.5 = 25.5 cents.
Duh! No brainer here. I would think there would be a lot of enthusiastic volunteers in the under 17 mpg category.
Break even is 20 mpg.
The problem is that there is insufficient state revenue from the gas tax to support the state road needs. While OreGo payoff to the state is claimed to be a reduction in state gas tax collection admin cost just how much is that cost? How many state employees would otherwise not be required and their cost savings applied to shovel ready road programs?
22 percent of ODOT's budget comes from state gas tax revenue which is 1.106 billion dollars in a two year budget. Info at this link giving other sources of revenue:
http://www.oregon.gov/odot/comm/docs/budgetbooklet_11-13.pdf
Without any further analysis I conclude at this point that OreGo is a Trojan Horse with a hidden agenda inside. What is that hidden agenda?
At a guess it's the usual suspects; Politics and money. The political agenda of privatizing the public domain structure and function and the money to be made by private entities as a result. This has potential for general public expense increase and private entity gain.
Tax collection at the pump in the existing form of state tax of 30 cents per gallon is currently a functional responsibility of private enterprise that remits collection to the state. A responsibility burden and associated expense that would be lifted from gasoline dispensers. Note that there is also a federal tax of about 18 cents that is also collected at the pump bit remitted to the states based on a federal formula that could potentially be incorporated into any state usage fee collection program.
Qui Bono here?
Is this an outsourcing of tax collection to a pay as you go free private enterprise entity that takes its cut in the collection as a revenue sharing scheme?
Revenue sharing is certainly not the primary profit opportunity appeal to private enterprise here. There is a gold mine of information to be derived for processing and sharing as the automobile and its associated driver become a uniquely identified. Thing on the Internet of Things.
Look at the bigger picture. Road usage fee is a foot in the door of a much broader agenda.
Pay as you go fee systems are rapidly becoming the business model as the Internet of things expands in range and depth to attribute or allocate cost/revenue to uniquely identified things such as automobiles on the Internet of things.
This is not simply a state tax revenue issue. It is a broad social issue of the Information Age. An issue that will not get the attention it deserves because if it did the those that would benefit mostfin terms of making money would make less. Therefore the "tell" that reveals the big here agenda is how much PR is involved as opposed to in depth analysis of what the program is all about and how many special interests are involved at the K street level.
A main feature of the plan is milage recording and reporting with a dongle attached to the car computer. There is a ton of money to be made in associated areas. Progressive Insurance is already doing this as I have noted in previous blog entries.
The Internet of Things will be a pay as you go world. A cost accountants wet dream. Enter what used to be a public park? Pay as you go by a perimeter entry sensing device.
Why should I pay for some kids education when I chose not to have any? Just because my parents paid taxes to support public education? There is a creep factor in the destruction of the general welfare and the common good far beyond the flow of money to the 1%.
The Internet of Things has the potential of making a person a Thing Product not a Thing Customer.
Monitoring the Imternet of Things:
http://www.capgemini-consulting.com/resource-file-access/resource/pdf/iot_monetization_0.pdf
And
http://www.capgemini-consulting.com/resource-file-access/resource/pdf/iot_monetization_0.pdf
And
http://www.capgemini-consulting.com/resource-file-access/resource/pdf/iot_monetization_0.pdf
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