Road Use Tax

Oregon and California are looking to require the installation of GPS and related equipment so that they can track your driving activity as well as tax you for your use of the road.

Right now, California and Oregon are looking at proposals that would require every car to have a GPS system, so the state can track personal road use and tax accordingly.

Motions and lawsuits have been filed to exclude black-box-collected vehicle condition evidence in product liability cases. Plaintiffs argue that use and performance data collected by cars is private and personal.

Also getting attention is a provision that would hook up all cars to an electronic system. The purpose: to track vehicle speed between Point A and Point B, which could result in an automatic traffic ticket mailed to your home. Is this over the top? Or just life in the 21st Century?

I'm unhappy at the thought of having to deal with the little black boxes that are being installed in cars today, but this is beyond reason. The tax perspective is even worse. Makes you wonder what they'll do to people who come from states that don't have these little tax devices installed.