OT but not completely

On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 10:07:44 -0500, Shag scribbled this interesting note:

I heard just the other day that new cars average twenty onboard processors and about sixty megs of code...

How are they going to enforce this requirement on older cars like ours that have no onboard processors and no coding whatsoever?

Here in Texas it would require owners to retrofit their cars with these gadgets, which would be difficult since even with state mandated inspections cars are only required to have what they came with from the factory.

I think pay-as-you-go systems are good, in general, since those who use the resources pay for that usage. It doesn't matter if that is via an ad valorum tax like the current gasoline taxes or a per mile tax-the end result is the same; those who use the most (gas in one case, roads in the other) pay the most.

We already have built in incentives, it is simply that most people have grown accustomed to the current gas tax structure and it only works to fund roads, not to help people to decide not to buy that Hummer with its mileage that makes the 402 in my work truck seem fuel efficient!

A by-the-mile (or buy-the-mile, if you prefer) tax structure will do nothing to encourage fuel efficiency. Only the rising price of gasoline will do that. Remove the current gas tax, install a by-the-mile system, and the price of gasoline will drop by the amount of the current tax. It won't matter if your car gets 5 mile per gallon or fifty miles per gallon, so far as the tax paid is concerned since you only pay that tax by the mile.

Let's use a pay-as-you-go system. Let the market decide what kind of vehicles should be produced. Gas prices will respond according to the laws of supply and demand. The taxes paid will reflect actual usage of the public resources (i.e. the road systems.) Seems fair to me. If you drive a fuel efficient car and don't drive much you end up paying very little either in tax or for gas-the best of both worlds!

-- John Willis (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)

Or the existing toll scams that some states have?

Considering the tollways in Illinois have some of the absolute shittiest driving surfaces I could imagine AND a toll system, I have my doubts any sort of pay-by-mile system will have any measurable benefit to citizens.

What amuses me is, as soon as you cross the state border into Wisconsin (who have no tolls), the highway is perfectly smooth.

Paying based on usage is fine by me, but only if the government can be trusted to actually funnel that money back into the roads. From what I see, they can't. ;)

...........That was just a special deal for southerners.

Don't ever visit Illinois then.. this year they implemented a new feature: double tolls UNLESS you have their prepaid RFID thing installed. ;)

It can cost over two bucks just to visit a friend and come home if you have to use the highways.

..............Oh no I didn't........lol

timmy

Yes, and the tolls slide. The nearer you are to O'Hare, the higher per mile charge. And the mile long bridge coming from Indiana is $2,00 soon to be going up.

As I bump along every day on the 294, I think my butt is falling in love with my carseat. Especially the short chunk between the 55 and the 290, isn't it loverly? I saw a little red 68 one day over in the right lane. Poor guy, I wonder how many times he's hit his head on the roof on that stretch?

Charles of Kankakee

Yeah, Tim. Ya did. I lived in The South for 11 years. I have ancestors that fought on both sides of 'The Late Unfortunate Incident', too. There's one county in Mississippi I'm probably related to half of. Small county, though.

Charles of Kankakee

We'll tell you when you start paving your dirt lanes. :>

........That's interesting because one of my ancestors rode with the Union Cavalry through the Shenandoah Valley trying to catch up with some of Chris Perdue's ancestors. My grandmother showed me some of his letters back when she was alive. There was somebody named Jeb Stuart, I think, that they were looking for. His last name was Baxter (my great-grandmother's maiden name) and he's buried in the cemetary in the village of Gouverneur, NY.

thats a nice story tim....now spend fifteen minutes and read this one:.....

..............You probably think that the Virgin Mary thing was what was interesting but what about those 'headlight tim rings' ?

timmy

hes insane :) makes all of us look... well. sane :)

As far as I know, at least my ancestors on one side weren't chasing the other side. We're still trying to find out where they fought.

That's J.E.B Stuart, if I remember rightly. Once I dated the great-great-great-grandniece (something like that) of Gen'l Mosby of Mosby's Raiders. The rest of the family has never forgiven him for voting Republican after that Late Unfortunate Incident.

Charles of Kankakee

On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 23:00:45 -0500, "Joey Tribiani" scribbled this interesting note:

Too bad this fellow isn't as good of a mechanic as he is a storyteller!:~)

-- John Willis (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)

Shag wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

I don't know what's dumber...commuting 2K a week or a milage tax. Because we're already paying a gasoline tax, which is based on the number of gallons you use, which in turn depends on the number of miles you drive.

The gas tax (state + federal) ranges from 53.5 cents per gallon (Hawaii) to 26.4 cents (Alaska). The national average is 42 cents (source is

So if his car gets 20 miles per gallon, the average American pays 2.1 cents per mile. If you've got a 2000 mile weekly commute, you're already paying $42.00 per week in gas taxes. That's $2184.00 a year! PS Where did the cents sign on the keyboard disappear to? (Yes I knöw ¢ is ält+Ö162 :)

PPS One plan is to fit each car with a GPS. I think they'll go with a "gas card" sorta like a phone card since the goal is a cashless society.

...uncle Timmy =-)

...Gareth (who's mother's maiden name is Baxter)

nah the Virgin Mary thing was kinda funny, but the interesting part is the "local" references that he makes are recognizable to me...(since i am

*local* to where he did his "restoration")....the "headlight tim rings" are what he was refering to when he warned to NOT buy from Jc whitney....

...............Every family tree has a few rotten apples.

LOL

Do we really need/want to dig in any deeper? LOL

Jan