http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/29/americans-should-just-say-no-gps-tracking-their-ca/

Americans should just say no to GPS tracking of their cars and trucks

Watch out — as the new year approaches the powers-that-be always unleash a new hoard of laws, rules and regulations. Already, we’re seeing another Orwellian idea re-emerge from its musty cave: The notion that drivers should pay an additional tax (they’ll call it a fee) based on how many miles you drive.

Causing a stir as far back as in 2001 when Oregon noticed that more fuel-efficient cars would impact gas tax revenue, politicians began to scramble to figure out how to use your driving as an excuse to take whatever money you have left in your wallet.

At least 18 states are now considering bills to do just this, and Oregon has initiated a pilot program. CBS News reports, “The Oregon pilot programs seeks to demonstrate whether a per-mile tax is a practical possibility. The state is finding 5,000 volunteers to pay 1.5-cents-per-mile tax instead of the 30 cents-per-gallon gas tax. Devices will report their mileage to the state. Other states are trying smaller pilot projects, including Nevada, Washington, Minnesota and California. The U.S. Senate passed a bill calling for a $90 million pilot project involving 10,000 cars. But the House leadership killed the bill after complaints from rural lawmakers that such a tax would unfairly penalize their constituents, who tend to drive farther than city drivers.”

It’s not just fairness that is at issue, it’s also about privacy. I contend this is a double-whammy by the government, which always wants to control two things: your money and your life.

As local, state and the federal government get bigger and, consequently, more incompetent, they see the average citizen as more of a threat. There are two ways to control that threat: eliminate disposable income, which funds your personal freedom, including political activities. The other is to condition you into accepting a complete elimination of your personal privacy and allowing the government to know when and where you go at all times.

Consider this: The programs being suggested or tested to track your mileage involve installing a GPS tracking device to determine not just how far you go, but which roads you use, how fast you go, and whether or not you’re a “good” driver, i.e., how fast you come up to stops.


The notion of GPS tracking of drivers should disturb everyone and should be rejected as an unacceptable, even Kafkaesque, attempt of government to establish a fascist system of surveillance and control.

The whining of politicians that they’re running out of highway repair funds is also rather ridiculous considering the money spent on that very issue through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the Crap Sandwich. Tens of billions of dollars were allocated for projects such as road and bridge repair, yet we’re now being told that, well, we need road and bridge repair.

In addition to Oregon, California is considering a mileage “fee” plan as well. Here again, as The Los Angeles Times reports, “Millions of vehicles also would have to be equipped with odometer readers, smartphone applications or global positioning technology that would transmit data to state officials or a contractor, who would then bill owners for the miles traveled. Privacy advocates are especially concerned that — in this era of data mining and well-publicized credit card breaches — the technology could be used to learn not only how far people go, but when and where.”

You think? One of the more silly claims is a mileage fee would replace the gas tax. Jonathan Gruber must have assured someone that we’re stupid. We all know, once a tax is implemented, it is never removed.

It also seems, once politicians get their hands on our money, there is no restriction or common sense used on how to spend it. Before we hike taxes and use mandatory, constant monitoring of the individual to apply that tax, how about eliminating the wasteful spending of politicians?

The Government Accountability Office has just released a report stating that eliminating unnecessary duplication within various departments could save hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Information Week reminds us of Sen. Tom Coburn’s “Wastebook 2014”: “Some examples of wasteful spending in Coburn’s report include more than $8,000 that the DOD spent on helicopter parts, which actually cost less than $500; Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Criminal Division paying $544,338 for a premium LinkedIn account; and the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) $202,000 investment to study why Wikipedia is sexist.”

In a story titled, “The outrage of wasteful government spending,” Newsday reports Medicare is considered “a “high risk program” because an estimated $44 billion of its 2012 payouts were improper.”

These are just a few examples, but are an important reminder of the sea of government corruption and incompetence in which we are all drowning. Now these very same people spend a great deal of their time figuring out how to take more of our money and freedom.

The new year of 2015 could be one in which the citizen could accomplish a great deal. At the top of our “to do” list should be a reminder to make sure our state and federal representatives know tracking and taxing us like a government-owned beast of burden is unequivocally unacceptable.

TEG note: offshoots of this plan to consider:
* WV citizens usually drive a huge amount of miles to get to their poorly paid jobs due to their own lack of education.
* The Winchester VA and Frederick County area where I live is littered with families that left the “Northern Virginia” urban area to move here where housing and taxes are far cheaper, and they drive back into their high paying urban jobs. They do this to move ahead socially and economically.
* The residents whose ancestors grew the same Frederick County also drive to Northern VA to take the jobs they were educated to acquire.
* Most people who have to drive further to get to higher paying jobs are forced to struggle with 1 to 2 hour drive each way and can’t take additional charges through mileage taxes and would be forced to stay closer to home for their employment. Where will the urban hospitals get their doctors and nurses to replace those who drive several hours a day to and from the hospitals and offices in the urban areas?
* With people being forced to stay home without their high paying jobs the economy will take a huge hit as the citizens will no longer have extra money.
* People will lose their jobs again and will be forced to go on the public dole.
* Instead of receiving additional $, the long term money will be decreased and more will need government $ to survive.
* When the remaining drivers left to pay the additional mileage taxes are forced to raise their prices for delivery & services rendered, the cost of everything goes up again and again.
* Who will the politicians choose to provide the “Government approved” GPS box made by which single or multiple company? Talk about political pay off’s…
* So if, [lets say] GE gives 500 million dollars to the President for his re-election bid, they can almost expect to get their GPS box approved by the President as the only one available for use in the older autos to become “authorized for use on the American highways”. Each box would cost X dollars with a $62.55 profit for GE, and they are required to be purchased [just like the ACA – Obama-care – law]. The amount sold might be “like about” lets say 40% of the cars and trucks currently on the road without factory GPS. Starting at the date the law comes into effect all US and foreign car and truck manufacturers would be required to install the Govt. approved GE location devise into every vehicle produced.
* As long as a Democratic politician swears secretly to GE, they would be provided with financial funding for their elections and re-elections. This is the reason for the high profit margin on each GE location devise.
* All crimes would be easier to investigate due to the knowledge of the location of your car and or truck at all times. [This could be a good thing some times].
* Lawyers might have subpoena legislation to prove or disprove their client’s location during a crime… or an affair in a person’s marriage.
* Trains use diesel fuel to turn an electric generator to operate the power to move on the rail system. Would they be required to also pay a mileage tax? If not, the cost of the trucking industry would necessarily go up and the cost of rail service would not. This could not be fair, but the rail systems are both privately and publicly owned, so, will some pay more and others not?
* What about shipping??? Ships use all different types and kinds of fuel, so, will they also be required to pay “mileage tax”?