BIKE: Taxing cars by the miles

[Roger Baker]

[Hey, wow. This would both discourage suburban sprawl and encourage 
bicycle use at the same time -- so lets run it up the flagpole here in 
Texas! Of course there's the little detail about big brother watching 
our every move, but this is America where we've learned to accept that 
as part of the price of freedom to fight terrorism (under the Patriot 
Act) so no big deal there, and the Republicans would support it too. 
Its kind of a win win win deal, right? -- Roger]


By Robert Salladay, Times Staff Writer



SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday appointed a new 
Department
of Motor Vehicles director who has advocated taxing motorists for every 
mile
they drive - by placing tracking devices in their cars.

The idea would mean a significant overhaul of how California collects 
taxes
to maintain its often-crumbling roads. Under the plan, the state gas 
tax -
now 18 cents a gallon - would be replaced with a tax on every mile 
traveled
by each car and truck.

The notion has not been endorsed by Schwarzenegger but is gaining 
acceptance
among transportation and budget experts. As Californians drive 
increasingly
more fuel-efficient cars, state officials are alarmed that the gasoline 
tax
will not raise enough money to keep up with road needs.

Charging people for the miles they drive also worries some owners of 
hybrid
cars, because it could wipe out any gas-tax savings they now enjoy.

Dan Beal, managing director of public policy for the Automobile Club of
Southern California, said altering the system would remove one 
incentive to
buying new-technology hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius, because its 
owner
would pay the same fuel tax as a Hummer owner.

"You are arguing against people taking risks on technology development,"
said Beal, warning that some mile-tracking systems could invite fraud 
more
than the reliable tax meters at the pump.

Any change in the state's gasoline tax would have to be approved by the
Legislature.

Privacy advocates worry about the government tracking the whereabouts of
every car in California. In one scenario - currently being tested in 
Oregon
- tracking devices send a signal to a GPS satellite following the car, 
and
that information would be used to calculate the tax bill. Other devices 
send
a signal directly from the car to the pump, which calculates the tax 
based
on the odometer reading.

Annalee Newitz, a policy analyst for the Electronic Frontier Foundation 
in
San Francisco, which monitors privacy issues, said if the device "can
communicate with a satellite and then communicate back with another 
device
on the ground, it could be used for something else. That would be my
concern: How are limits placed on how this device could be used?"

Yet some transportation experts say the technology has wider 
implications.
Officials are intrigued by the idea because California could begin 
taxing
people for using specific roads at specific times. To keep people off
freeways at peak hours, for example, per-mile fees for city streets 
could be
pegged at a lower rate than the highway. That could prompt people to use
alternative routes.

The governor and other top aides are exploring ways to alter our
gasoline-driven society: Schwarzenegger wants more hybrid and
hydrogen-fueled cars, and his new EPA secretary, Terry Tamminen, is 
writing
a book about ending the use of oil entirely, calling it a "dinosaur."

For the state budget, the trend looks grim. Revenue from the gas and 
diesel
fuel tax - about $3.3 billion - will have declined 8% between 1998 and 
2005,
adjusted for inflation, but the amount of miles traveled by cars and 
trucks
on California roads has increased 16%, according to a February report 
by the
legislative analyst. The California Transportation Commission has said 
the
state needs about $100 billion in road and freeway repairs.

The appointment of Joan Borucki, a Democrat and longtime Caltrans 
official,
has placed an advocate for a per-mile transportation tax within the top
ranks of the Schwarzenegger administration.

She included the notion in the California Performance Review, a
top-to-bottom audit ordered by Schwarzenegger last year. Borucki was the
leader on the transportation section and pushed the idea of an
odometer-based fee at an August public meeting in Riverside.

The idea has been circulating because more Californians are driving
fuel-efficient cars, the review warned. Less gasoline consumed means 
less
money for the state's coffers from the gas tax - even though people are
driving and damaging roads just as much. "Electric vehicles, fuel-cell
vehicles or other future fuels would not be taxed under" the existing
per-gallon system, the report said.

The administration said Borucki was not available Monday, but she said 
in a
statement that she wants to transform the DMV "into a customer-friendly,
service-oriented unit of our government." Borucki, who was on the 
California
Transportation Commission for two years, still needs state Senate
confirmation for the $123,255-a-year job. She started at Caltrans in 
1980
and worked her way up to manager of new technology and deputy district
director for planning.

"She's devoted, and she's knowledgeable about the state's situation," 
said
Elizabeth Deakin, a policy expert with the UC Transportation Center who 
has
known her for 15 years. "She understands the state's concerns about 
wanting
good service, and she understands technology."

In Orange and San Diego counties, some freeways are using what is called
"congestion pricing" - vehicles pay to use certain lanes at peak hours. 
And
two similar systems are being tested in Oregon.

Around Seattle, the Puget Sound Regional Council is placing global
positioning devices in 500 cars to monitor where they drive - and then
calculating a usage fee based on the roads they use and the times they
drive. In Eugene, Ore., test cars are being outfitted with tracking 
devices
that link up with special gas pumps around the area.

Currently, cars with high fuel efficiency and large trucks don't 
generate
enough revenue from fuel taxes to pay for the burden they place on 
roads,
said Randall Pozdena, managing director of ECONorthwest, an economic
consulting firm. A large truck, he said, can do as much damage on a city
street as 10,000 cars, but it still pays the same amount of per-gallon
gasoline tax, assuming the gas was purchased in California in the first
place.

Drivers "can start allocating how much time they spend on each type of
street," said Andrew Poat, a former Caltrans official who works for the 
city
of San Diego. It could get even more detailed: Large trucks could be 
charged
higher fees for using residential streets rather than more fortified
freeways.

"It's just like water. We're trying to get water and energy meters to 
tell
you what time of day you use energy. You use energy at peak hours on a
really hot day, you pay more for that.. We need to start sending those 
price
signals to users."

Still, privacy advocates worry about "usage creep" - like how the 
driver's
license has evolved into official identification for nearly everyone. 
The
information collected about mileage potentially could be subpoenaed in a
court case or used to track someone without their knowledge, they fear.

But Pozdena and Deakin, the transportation experts, said most people 
don't
care about this issue as much as privacy advocates, especially when
presented with the possibility that as much as 25% of the road could be 
used
by hybrids in the future. Drivers of non-hybrid cars have said it's 
unfair
to pay the larger burden of gasoline taxes, they said.

"While some people are concerned about civil liberties, most people are
not," Deakin said. "One of the things we found from focus groups and 
surveys
is that most people said if the government wanted to track you, they 
have
other ways to do it."