This was in the Denver Post.

They are proposing a mileage tax here in CO. The purpose is due to lost revenue from gas saving vehicles, so they need to find other ways to make money off of us. So they propose a mileage Tax. The more miles the more you get taxed. This means that they need to track your miles. You can see where this is going. This affects all of us.

This is FYI. The originator of this proposal should just be shipped to North Korea.

"
denver and the west
Colo. Dems see car use as alternative to gas tax

By John Ingold
The Denver Post
Posted: 01/22/2009 12:30:00 AM MST


Nestled in the details of a major transportation proposal this year is an idea that could revolutionize how Colorado pays for its road and bridge projects.
The proposal, from statehouse Democrats, calls for pilot projects to study whether the state should do away with its gas tax and adopt a system in which drivers are charged based on how many miles they drive.
"What policymakers are looking at is a sustainable revenue source that they can count on," said Jim Whitty, an Oregon Department of Transportation official who has become a guru of mileage-based fees.
States across the country are struggling with the weakening of the gas tax as a revenue stream, due to more fuel-efficient vehicles and the political difficulty of raising taxes to keep up with inflation. Colorado is one of several states, including Florida, North Carolina and Ohio, looking at implementing a mileage-based charge on drivers.
But so far no state has actually made the switch or even progressed much beyond the pilot-study phase, demonstrating just how revolutionary — and challenging — the concept is.
For starters, it would require a whole new set of technology — still being developed — both inside cars and at other points to measure and report miles traveled. And critics raise a host of concerns, from whether such a system would adversely affect rural residents who drive more by necessity to whether the system would allow government to improperly track people's movements.
"I think it's unworkable and unwieldy," said Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry, R-Fruita. "Who pays for the transponders? How do you track them? There are a lot of large logistical questions that overwhelm it."
In the suddenly hot world of mileage-based fee studies, Oregon has been the clear leader. The state launched a pilot project on the idea in 2006, and this year the state's governor is pushing for lawmakers to create a long-term plan for the switch.
Whitty said one of the chief benefits of a mileage-based system is its malleability. It can be customized to charge people more for driving at rush hour or less for driving in rural areas. It can tax Hummers at a higher rate than Priuses.
"Because this involves computers, you could do any kind of formulas you want," Whitty said. ". . . Until there are a bunch of proposals to fight over, a lot of these criticisms are premature."
Colorado state Rep. Joe Rice, D-Littleton, one of the architects of the Democratic transportation proposal known as FASTER, said a mileage-based charge also would be better than the gas tax in another way: It creates a clearer link between how much people use the state's transportation system and how much they pay.
Rice acknowledged that implementing such a complex system would take plenty of time and study. But he said that effort is worth it to find a more sustainable way to put transportation dollars into the state's coffers.
"We've got to figure out something besides the gas tax," Rice said. "In my view, we're not going to get to it in five years or 10 years. But I think we've got to start."
A report released late last year by the Brookings Institution might give lawmakers pause. The report found that the number of vehicle miles traveled nationwide has fallen. In Colorado, the 7.1 percent drop since 2006 was the third-highest in the nation.
Robert Puentes, the study's author, attributed the drop to greater use of public transportation. Mileage fees, Puentes said, "should be part and parcel of conversations around the future of transportation in this country. But if we're looking at this as a one-to-one substitute for the gas tax, we're kidding ourselves."
Rice and others working on the transportation proposal say they only want to empower communities to think boldly about how to fund transportation.
"Whether using Oregon as a model or not," state Sen. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne, said, "I think we should really be exploring alternative transportation funding mechanisms."
John Ingold: 303-954-1068 or jingold@denverpost.com"

 

Holy crap-

Government needs to learn that taxes are to support the infrastructure not as profit, and that just because they over spend is not an excuse to over tax.

There NEEDS to be an accountability for local and National Government spending.

I have already seen an increase in local PD ticketing as well, Im nothing short of disgusted.

 

this goes beyond that. The only way for this to work is for them to track your exact miles. How do you think they will do that? This is absolutely verging on Communism. There is no other way to put it. But you can't run from this, you have to fight it.

this is the idiot. Who voted this massive moron into office, huh?
Colorado state Rep. Joe Rice, D-Littleton

 

You're absolutely right, if they can track how many miles you drive, the next orwellian step would be to track how long it took to drive those miles and tax that as well. Not good :-(

Let's find a way to organize and fight this, we can start with the D- Littleton *** clown.

 

Holy Hell Batman!

That is crap, pure 100% horse $h!t!

I'll post this info on a number of other CO based/related Forums...must get the word out to SQUASH this like the nasty little bug that it is!

Geeez

 

Holy big brother Quasi-social-communisum. Where is all the money from the last 10 boom years we had? They already passed the increase in the registration fee. I'm affraid its only going to get worse if states follow the lead of Obama-Pelosi. They just can't print money they must take it from us.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kzfm4...1&feature=fvwp


Well, I suggest everyone make noise and call their rep or the senators office and leave your dissatisfaction. Think about how much news this made. No one hears about it till it happens and then it's to late.