[trx450r1989]

has anyone been to that website or uses the app on there black berry or iphone. its pretty cool. its a site where your gps keep track of you and then post it on line at nationtogo.com and you can look at other ppl trails. pretty cool

[NewdRiver_]

I really don't feel like having the entire world know where I am...

[onefastmoe]

I keep track of my kids or at least their phones with the gps in them.

Get used to it becasue your car will have it soon and they will charge mileage tax and issue speeding tickets shortly based on the info it transmits.

Mikey

[cragrat]

thats some conspiracy theory **** right there. do u wear an armidillo helmet on your head by any chance?

[4XGore]

Originally Posted by cragrat

thats some conspiracy theory **** right there.

Oh really?

Big Brother used to to just watch you. Now some people in Oregon are worrying that he might start taxing you, too.

Oregon's Governor, Ted Kulongoski, wants the legislature to authorize a mileage tax on Oregon vehicles, one that would be levied—as experimented with in a pilot program—via special GPS devices that would track the vehicles' mileage, but that would, it is promised, not keep track of where they were driven. Drivers would then be taxed for the miles they drove, as opposed to paying via the existing system of gasoline taxes.

Is this a good idea? In a word, no. At best, it's overcomplicated and intrusive. At worst, it's a threat to privacy and the environment.

There are, of course, some advantages to taxing people based on miles driven. Roads, bridges, etc., would be funded by those who use them the most. What's more, a variable tax based on mileage would—at least, in theory—encourage people to drive less, helping to reduce congestion and traffic.

The problem is that there are better ways to achieve these goals, starting with the very gas tax that Kulongoski wants to replace. Gas taxes are a pretty good proxy for road usage—the more you drive, the more gas you burn—and there's a bonus: Gas taxes encourage people to use less gas in order to pay less tax, something that's pretty beneficial whether you're worried about greenhouse emissions or just about too much dependence on imported oil. A mileage tax, presumably, doesn't care whether you're driving a Prius or a Hummer, giving no incentive to save. At a time when policy makers are struggling to find ways to reduce emissions and energy consumption, this seems almost perverse. The person who invests a little extra to buy a high-mileage hybrid or diesel would, in effect, be penalized for making that choice. Aren't we trying to encourage people to purchase efficient cars?

Gas taxes are collected at the point of sale, with no privacy risk at all. We might (or might not) trust the government's promises of privacy regarding GPS receivers, but we know that the gas pump can't blab about where we've been. (And with a gas tax there's no need for anybody—drivers, or the state—to shell out for any GPS gadgets, either).

A fancy GPS device could support differential taxes, with higher rates for congested roadways at rush hour. But to do that, it would have to keep track of where you had driven and when, which would undercut any hope of privacy. But if you want to preserve privacy, the GPS doesn't offer much value added. (Heck, if you want to tax mileage, just use the odometer that's already built into every car; it shouldn't be too hard to credit people for out-of-state driving).