State gas tax could be replaced by mileage tax

[KRonn]

Massachusetts seems to be toying with the idea of open road tolling. Taking down old toll booths on the Mass Pike and bridges in Boston and going with electronic tolling or if a vehicle doesn't have the transponders then taking a pic of the license plate and sending out  a bill.  So far just at limited places where tolls existed before. But there's been speculation of more coming. The State also just raised gas taxes tied to the rate of inflation, so should get more infrastructure revenue there, but who knows how the money gets spent.  I assume the State would keep some gas tax even if they did go with open road tolling.

[DontSayBanana]

Massachusetts seems to be toying with the idea of open road tolling. Taking down old toll booths on the Mass Pike and bridges in Boston and going with electronic tolling or if a vehicle doesn't have the transponders then taking a pic of the license plate and sending out  a bill.  So far just at limited places where tolls existed before. But there's been speculation of more coming. The State also just raised gas taxes tied to the rate of inflation, so should get more infrastructure revenue there, but who knows how the money gets spent.  I assume the State would keep some gas tax even if they did go with open road tolling.

That's a clusterfuck waiting to happen if I ever heard one.  The error rate on red light cameras is pretty significant.  Also, how would they toll out-of-state vehicles that way?  They don't really have any teeth to force every privately-owned, out-of-state vehicle that travels through to install a transponder.

ETA: Xerox claims red-light cameras have an error rate of around 5%.  On a heavy traffic open road with a daily traffic count of approx. 30k cars, that's 1500 cars that will have problems.  If Massachusetts is anywhere near as toll-happy as NJ, I'll put a figure of about $5 a vehicle on it- $7500 sunk a day for one road, about $225k sunk for one road each month, and that's not even counting money lost from out-of-state traffic that can't be counted or billed.

[DGuller]

Massachusetts seems to be toying with the idea of open road tolling. Taking down old toll booths on the Mass Pike and bridges in Boston and going with electronic tolling or if a vehicle doesn't have the transponders then taking a pic of the license plate and sending out  a bill.  So far just at limited places where tolls existed before. But there's been speculation of more coming. The State also just raised gas taxes tied to the rate of inflation, so should get more infrastructure revenue there, but who knows how the money gets spent.  I assume the State would keep some gas tax even if they did go with open road tolling.

That's a clusterfuck waiting to happen if I ever heard one.  The error rate on red light cameras is pretty significant.  Also, how would they toll out-of-state vehicles that way?  They don't really have any teeth to force every privately-owned, out-of-state vehicle that travels through to install a transponder.

Isn't it already done in some state?  I don't remember the state, but it's one of the southern ones.

[Neil]

Seems like the benefits are so not worth the costs to make the switch.  Why not just set a revenue target for gas taxes, and adjust them appropriately to meet it?  I can't see gas usage as being that bad of a proxy for how much infrastructure you use up.

So Tesla and Leaf owners should get a free ride?  That segment is only going to get bigger as time goes on.

You could just tax the electric car directly.

[frunk]

Isn't it already done in some state?  I don't remember the state, but it's one of the southern ones.

In Texas they do.

[KRonn]

Massachusetts seems to be toying with the idea of open road tolling. Taking down old toll booths on the Mass Pike and bridges in Boston and going with electronic tolling or if a vehicle doesn't have the transponders then taking a pic of the license plate and sending out  a bill.  So far just at limited places where tolls existed before. But there's been speculation of more coming. The State also just raised gas taxes tied to the rate of inflation, so should get more infrastructure revenue there, but who knows how the money gets spent.  I assume the State would keep some gas tax even if they did go with open road tolling.

That's a clusterfuck waiting to happen if I ever heard one.  The error rate on red light cameras is pretty significant.  Also, how would they toll out-of-state vehicles that way?  They don't really have any teeth to force every privately-owned, out-of-state vehicle that travels through to install a transponder.

ETA: Xerox claims red-light cameras have an error rate of around 5%.  On a heavy traffic open road with a daily traffic count of approx. 30k cars, that's 1500 cars that will have problems.  If Massachusetts is anywhere near as toll-happy as NJ, I'll put a figure of about $5 a vehicle on it- $7500 sunk a day for one road, about $225k sunk for one road each month, and that's not even counting money lost from out-of-state traffic that can't be counted or billed.

That's a lot more messy than I figured it would be. So I'd think that Mass legislators would be even more willing to implement such a plan! With so many errors though, I'd say that a lot of people would be getting bills they don't owe, and would have to fight this stuff. That alone would likely convince people to get transponders!

[lustindarkness]

I don't see an easy way to do this without GPS. And I don't see us paranoid freedom and liberty loving americans allowing the GPS.

[crazy canuck]

Given that a usage tax such as mileage or gas is intended to internalize the the free rider problem of a public good, and is therefore designed to mimic to the extent possible private consumption, it seems to me the regressivity is the least of our concerns.

To me it's the most important concern.

Agreed.  But I think a sliding scale with the highest cost being assigned to the highest congestion and nearest the major centres would be part of the answer so long as that revenue is used to fund affordable and reliable public transit options.